Okonomiyaki
Osaka-Style Cabbage Pancake
Okonomiyaki means grilled as you like it. In Osaka the cabbage, batter and fillings are mixed together before they go on the griddle, and the pancake comes off thick, soft inside and glazed with sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes.
Both recipes mix a flour batter with a large amount of shredded cabbage and cook the pancake in a pan for several minutes on each side. One uses dashi in the batter, 300 g of cabbage and smoked bacon; the other uses water, potato flour, 500 g of cabbage, tempura bits and pickled ginger and cooks each side for 5 to 7 minutes.
Ingredients
For the pancakes
- 150 g plain flour
- 200 ml dashi, cooled
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 400 g white cabbage, finely chopped
- 200 g smoked bacon, diced
- Vegetable oil, to cook
To serve
- Okonomiyaki sauce
- Japanese mayonnaise
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- Katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
Method
- Mix the batter Whisk the eggs with the dashi. Mix in the flour, sugar, sesame oil and soy sauce until smooth. Stir in the cabbage and bacon until everything is coated, adding a little more flour if the mixture is very wet.
- Cook the first side Heat a little oil in a large non-stick pan over a medium heat. Add half the mixture, shape it into a round about 2 cm thick, cover with a lid and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until browned underneath.
- Turn Put a flat plate over the pan, turn the pan upside down and slide the pancake back in. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes more, until the bacon is cooked through and the middle is hot and set.
- Finish Slide on to a plate. Brush with okonomiyaki sauce, drizzle with mayonnaise in lines and scatter with spring onion and bonito flakes. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
Do not press the pancake down. It should stay airy.
A lid helps the middle cook through.