Okonomiyaki Recipe

Okonomiyaki

Due to my recent venture into a Japanese grocery in Midtown Manhattan, I was inspired to make my own okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake). This dish is savory, and not sweet as the usual American breakfast pancakes are. I based this recipe on this one, but made a few modifications of my own because

1. I was lacking some ingredients like red pickled ginger, tempura flakes, seaweed powder and bonito flakes
2. I'm vegetarian (most of the time)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup stock or water
• 1 egg (per batch, this makes about 4 batches)
• Dole classic coleslaw mix
• Canned corn (about 2 tbsp per batch)
• 4-6 tbsp chopped green onion (I didn't have this but I would use it if I did)
• 1/2-3/4 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes)  2 tbsp crushed French's fried onions (per batch)
• A dash of powdered ginger
• 12-18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
• vegetable oil
• For toppings:
• ao-nori (dried seaweed powder)
• okonomiyaki sauce (buy at Japanese grocery, for example Sunrise Mart)
• mayonnaise (kewpie brand, buy at Japanese grocery)
• katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) *optional
• beni-shoga (pickled red ginger) *optional
  

Preparation:

1. Put flour in a large bowl. Pour water/stock and mix to make batter. Rest the batter for about an hour in the refrigerator. 
2. To make one sheet of okonimiyaki, take out about 1/2 cup of the batter in another bowl. 
3. Mix about 1/4 bag of the coleslaw mix, about 1 Tbsp of chopped green onion, 2 tbsp corn, a dash of powdered ginger (depending on how ginger-y you want it) and about 2 tbsp of tempura flakes crushed fried onions in the batter. 
4. Add an egg in the batter and stir. (*Tip: The batter needs to be mixed in for a bit with the coleslaw and egg so the consistency is less like putty)
5. Heat an electric pan or skillet and oil lightly. Pour the batter in the pan and make a round shape. Cook for about 5 minutes. (*Tip: Check the cooking side at 2 1/2 mins to make sure it hasn't burned, flip if you think it's brown enough)
6. Meanwhile, fry a couple slices of meat on the side and place the meat on top of the okonomiyaki. 
7. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked through.
8. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi and beni-shoga if you would like.

I experimented a bit with sprinkling Worcestershire sauce on each side as I cooked one of the pancakes. I also used more oil with one, and less oil with one. Your cooking time will be less if you use more oil/heat and the pancake will be crispier. If you're not into crispy okonomiyaki (which isn't the standard), then use low to medium heat, and less oil. Either way, it tastes GREAT! Bon appetit! :)

Posted in: recipes,vegetarian