Okonomiyaki

SERVES: 4

PREP: 20 minutes

COOK: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil 

Batter

• 2 cups (300 g) plain flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (250 ml) vegetable stock or water
• 4 eggs

Okonomiyaki sauce

• 3 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar

Filling

• ½ green cabbage (500 g), cored and finely shredded
• ½ cup thinly sliced green onions (light part)
• 400 g tin corn kernels, drained
• 2 tablespoons pickled ginger, finely chopped

Toppings

• mayonnaise
• sesame seeds
• pickled ginger
• ¼ cup sliced green onions (dark part)

METHOD

PREP

For the batter, mix together the flour, salt, stock or water (cold or at room temperature) and eggs in a large bowl until well combined. Cover and leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.

✓ Whisk together the okonomiyaki sauce ingredients in a small bowl or container. Cover and leave in the fridge until ready to use.

✓ To prepare the filling, cut out the core and then shred the cabbage as finely as possible. Thinly slice the light part of the green onions, setting aside the dark part for the toppings. Drain the corn kernels and finely chop the pickled ginger. (If you’re prepping ahead, you can put all the filling ingredients in a container, cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

✓ Add the filling ingredients to the bowl of batter and stir well to coat.

COOK

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. If you have 2 frying pans, using both at the same time will reduce your cooking time.
2. Pour about 1 cup (250 ml) batter into the pan. Spread with a spoon or spatula into a circle about 15 cm in diameter and 1.5–2 cm thick. If your pan is large enough, try to fit 2 pancakes to a pan.
3. Cook for 5 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for 5 minutes, adding more oil if needed. When ready, the pancakes will be light golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to plates and repeat until you’ve used all the batter. This should make about 4 large pancakes or 8 smaller ones (more like fritters).
4. To serve, spread okonomiyaki sauce over each pancake and then drizzle with mayonnaise. Garnish with sesame seeds, pickled ginger and sliced green onions.

Leftovers: Leftover batter and cooked pancakes (without toppings) can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days. Cooked pancakes can be reheated in a frying pan or in the oven. Okonomiyaki sauce will keep for up to a week in the fridge.

Mayonnaise: Kewpie mayo is the best choice for this recipe. If you don’t have Kewpie, try adding 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar and 2 teaspoons caster sugar to ½ cup (150 g) regular mayonnaise to replicate the flavour.

Meat option: Bacon is a very tasty addition to this recipe, for meat eaters. At the end of step 2, when you’ve spread the batter in the pan, layer 3 pieces of thin streaky bacon (cut to size) over the top of the pancake. This will cook when you flip it over – magic!