Tasty, full of vegetables and surprisingly easy and quick to make. These savoury Japanese pancakes is one of my favourites for a quick weeknight dinner or an relaxing weekend brunch. There are many variations to this dish as "okono" literally means "whatever you like", so feel free to replace the recipe with your favourite protein (or none for a vegetarian version), or add your favourite vegetables.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 20min prep, 30min cooking
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Pancake
- 150g thinly sliced pork pieces with fat (or any protein of your choice)
- 100g okonomiyaki flour*
- 150ml water
- 1 egg
- 300g cabbage finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Japanese pickled ginger roughly chopped*
Toppings
- Japanese mayonnaise*
- okonomiyaki sauce*
- tenkasu (tempura scraps)*
- dried bonito flakes*
- dried seaweed (thin strips or powder)*
* Available from your local Japanese groceries. If you can't find some of the ingredients, you can try the following as replacement:
- okonomiyaki flour - mix 100g of plain flour with 2g of dashi stock powder and 1 tsp of baking powder.
- okonomiyaki sauce - mix 4 tbsp tomato sauce, 3½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce and 1½ tbsp sugar.
Method
1. Make the pancake batter by mixing together the flour, water and egg ensuring there is no lump.
2. In a separate mixing bowl, add half of the batter with half of the cabbage and ginger and gentle mix it together. It's important to only mix 1 portion at a time to ensure that the pancake is not too soggy and mushy from too much liquid getting released by the cabbage,
3. Heat some oil in a pan, start by placing the pork slices (or protein of your choice) on the hot pan then pour the pancake mixture on top of it and cook for 5 minutes with the lid on. Flip over the pancake and cook for 5 minutes with the lid on. Remove the lid and cook for a further 3 minutes.
4. Transfer the pancake onto a plate and generously cover the pancake with mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce, tenkasu, dried bonito flakes and seaweed powder or strips. Enjoy while it's hot!
Comments