Okonomiyaki – Japanese Cabbage Pancake

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

Okonomiyaki is a specialty of Osaka, the second largest city in Japan and also it’s foodie capital. Tomiko and I first tried it at an okonomiyaki restaurant when our aunt took us to Osaka in 2006. The word ‘okomiyaki’ means ‘grilled as you like it’ and is a cabbage pancake, but it tastes so much better than how it sounds! You can also add extra ingredients like bacon (cover the top of the uncooked pancake side, so it cooks when you flip it), chopped shrimp, Chinese sausage, or even cheese. I like to add tofu, but you can mix in your own favourite protein choice.

The cooked pancake is then topped with Japanese mayonnaise and drizzled with okonomi sauce, a kind of salty barbecue sauce. I don’t really like the taste of okonomi sauce by itself, but is fantastic when combined with the pancake, mayonnaise, aonori, and bonito flakes.

This is from August 2006, when we went to Osaka with our aunt. Here we are waiting for our noodle-topped okonomiyaki to cook on the tabletop grill! This was a restaurant specializing in okonomiyaki, and they provided chopsticks and little metal spatulas so we could portion out the pancake.

Okonomiyaki - Japanese Cabbage Pancake

 

Author:

Kiku Corner

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Japanese

Serves: 2

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Save Print

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup okonomi mix (or ¾ cup cake flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and ¼ cup corn starch)
• ⅔ cup broth
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups finely shredded green cabbage (or Napa)
• 4 stalks green onions. chopped
• 3 Tbsp pickled ginger
• ¼ cup tenkasu (tempura bits)
• 1 cup soft tofu
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

For the Topping:

• ¼ cup Kewpie mayonnaise
• ¼ cup okonomi sauce
• 3 Tbsp aonori (seaweed flakes)
• 3 Tbsp katsuoboshi (bonito flakes)

Instructions

1. Preheat a flat grill (or alternatively, a large frying pan) over medium heat.
2. In a large bowl, mix the okonomiyaki mix with the broth, being careful not to overmix. Add in the eggs. Toss in the cabbage, green onions, pickled ginger, tenkasu, and tofu. Mix to coat everything in the batter.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil on the grill/frying pan. Place half of the okonomiyaki mixture onto the frying pan, making sure to form the mixture into flat patties that are around 1.5 cm thick, keeping the edges together.
4. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Carefully flip and finish cooking for another 4-5 minutes, until firm and browned.
5. Place the cooked okonomiyaki on a plate while you cook the second pancake.
6. To serve, drizzle the mayonnaise and the okomi sauce in a criss-cross pattern over the top of the pancake. Sprinkle on the aonori and katsuoboshi. Serve hot!

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

3.2.2925