Recipe Okonomiyaki -- savory Japanese pancakes

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madebyyouandi

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There is nothing like okonomiyaki in Western cuisine and I see it (mis)translated as either "Japanese pizza" or "cabbage pancakes" but it doesn't have cheese and is never sweet. Essentially, okonomiyaki is a batter flavored with dashi that has a lot of cabbage mixed into it. It is then fried on a griddle until the cabbage softens. Often, it's made with seafood or pork either mixed in or placed on top before the "pancake" is flipped. It's then served with okonomiyaki sauce and topped with mayonnaise.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkYo_UvasYI



okonomiyaki.jpg



Below is a recipe for okonomiyaki and later I will post a more "western" version of the same dish. I will eventually post videos of both on my YouTube channel.

The batter:
1 cup AP flour
3/4 cup of dashi (or water with 1 teaspoon dashi powder)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar (this is for browning)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

200 grams of egg (or about 3 large eggs)

1 head of cabbage shredded and chopped

pork, beef, oysters, squid, or octopus (100- 200 grams) (optional)

Directions:

1) Mix the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and dashi together until the lumps are gone and set aside for an hour to relax the gluten and hydrate the flour. You can make this a few days ahead of time and keep the batter in the fridge until ready to use (this is what I do).
2) The day you're ready to make it, beat in the eggs and fold in the cabbage. (If you want to use squid or octopus, add it here.)
3) Scoop 1/4 of this mixture onto an oiled griddle or fry pan cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
4) While it's cooking add a layer slices of pork or beef or oysters on top (if using).
5) Flip and cook on low for another 10 minutes.
6) When done, add the okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise and serve.


Note: If you have an asian grocery store near by, you can add between 100-200 grated yamaimo/mountain potato to the batter with the dashi. This potato is flavorless but when grated is very slimly (think okra) and helps to keep the batter on the cabbage while adding a nice chew to the final product. Yamaimo isn't necessary to make it at home but is what restaurants use here in Japan.

Note two: Typically, you add katsuobusushi/shaved bonito flakes after the mayonnaise. The rising heat causes the flakes to move -- "dance" -- on the okonomiyaki. People also add shaved or powdered nori (for extra umami) and benni shoga/red ginger for extra flavor.
 
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This looks beautiful. I was wondering where the okonomiyaki sauce comes in, but it looks like it's easy enough to make my own from ketchup, oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar. I will look for a readymade one, though, as well as that potato the next time I am in an Asian grocery store.

What are the green flakes in the picture?
 
Morning Glory said:
I was wondering if you would post a recipe for okonomiyaki! If this is intended as an entry for the current challenge then it needs tagging and linking to the challenge thread.
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I added this to the thread and put the recipe tag as well. What more do I need to do?


FowlersFreeTime said:
I can't wait to try making it at home, thank you for posting the recipe!
When I was in Japan, I had two versions of Okonomiyaki: one with noodles and one without. I can never remember which was which, Osaka-style versus Hiroshima-style, but both were delicious.
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Hiroshima style is with the noodles -- a totally different way to make it, with very little batter on the very bottom, a thick pile of shreadded cabbage, ramen noodles, meat and eggs. I have a devil of a time flipping it. 😆

The Late Night Gourmet said:
This looks beautiful. I was wondering where the okonomiyaki sauce comes in, but it looks like it's easy enough to make my own from ketchup, oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar. I will look for a readymade one, though, as well as that potato the next time I am in an Asian grocery store.

What are the green flakes in the picture?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the sauce is easy to make but for me it's the Kewpie mayo that makes it. 😁 If you can get it, that mayo is the bomb!
And yeah, as FFT said, the green stuff is powdered nori. Not necessary but nice.
 
Tha okonomiyaki in the picture looks adorable! I love the concept of the dish, cabbage gives it some much freshness. I was so inspired by a Japan food culture video featuring okonomiyaki, that I tried it at home, it did not turn out that well, but this makes me want to try again. Wonderful!
 
Timenspace said:
Tha okonomiyaki in the picture looks adorable! I love the concept of the dish, cabbage gives it some much freshness. I was so inspired by a Japan food culture video featuring okonomiyaki, that I tried it at home, it did not turn out that well, but this makes me want to try again. Wonderful!
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When you say it didn't turn out well, what do you mean, I might be able to help? Often, people add too much cabbage and it becomes hard to turn over and then looks less attractive.
 
I haven’t made it yet but I did eat it in London of all places.

Does anyone else on this forum listen to David Chang’s Recipe Club podcast?

They do a monthly ingredient or dish similar to what happens here and they did Bisquick sometime last year. One of them used it to make okonomiyaki and apparently it’s great.
 
Frizz1974 said:
I haven’t made it yet but I did eat it in London of all places.

Does anyone else on this forum listen to David Chang’s Recipe Club podcast?

They do a monthly ingredient or dish similar to what happens here and they did Bisquick sometime last year. One of them used it to make okonomiyaki and apparently it’s great.
Click to expand...
No, I do not, but I watch a guy named Yeoung on Youtubem he cooks vegetarian and or vegan Asian inspired dishes, it looks amazing...but no, it is not a podcast.
 
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