Okonomiyaki  – Osaka style Japanese Pancakes

In Japan this is a dish of leftovers, meaning you can use anything you want in the pancake.  Okonomi means ‘how you like’ and yaki means ‘grilled’ so although traditionally, there might be slices of pork belly, seafood or yam in the recipe we can have a little fun and make it the way ‘we like’

Ingredients

Serves 4

250 g self-raising flour

3 eggs

300 ml instant dashi stock

Sift the flour into a bowl and whisk the eggs and milk together and add to the flour. Whisk together to form a smooth batter. Set aside.

200g white cabbage shredded finely

100g zucchini grated or shredded finely

6 spring onions shredded

½ cup water chestnuts chopped roughly (optional)

200g green prawn meat diced 1 cm (optional – can use frozen)

1 1/2 tbsp pickled red ginger

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

The toppings

Okonomi sauce

Kewpie mayonnaise

Bonito flakes

Shredded tops of spring onion

Pinch of furikake – rice seasoning

Method

Divide the fresh ingredients between four bowls and add an equal amount of batter to each bowl. Combine the batter and fresh ingredients.

Place a small non-stick frying pan onto a medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Spoon the first bowl of mixture into the pan on one side and tease out evenly across the base of the pan. Don’t be tempted to press the ingredients down, as this may make them heavier than they otherwise would be. Allow the pancakes to cook over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Gently flip over, using a spatula and continue to cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until golden on both sides. If the pan has a lid that fits this will speed the process up as it traps the heat and steam.

Remove from the pan and using the remaining oil repeat the process with the remaining mixture. The pancakes should be cooked through and the surface golden brown.

Drizzle a generous amount of okonomi sauce and kewpie mayonnaise over the pancakes. Sprinkle with Ao-nori or furikake seasoning and scatter spring onion and bonito flakes.

Equipment

Stove top or portable unit

Salt

Pepper

Chux or similar

1 tea towel

Access to water

1 small frying pan 24 cm

1 spatula

Chopping board

1 medium knife

1 small knife

1 large bowl for batter

1 whisk

6 small bowls for ingredients

Couple of plate options for presentation