Japanese pancake – Okonamiyaki

Not a traditional pancake, and not quite an omelette or pizza, perhaps Okonamiyaki is best described as a combination of all. A great comfort food dish that requires little effort, is easy to make and fun to eat. The Japanese ingredients are readily available from Asian food stores, many of them now also available from Western supermarkets, or just substitute. The recipe won’t be ruined if you use substitutes.


Okonomi means “your choice”, and that is exactly what it can be with a simple flour, egg, dashi stock or water batter with shredded cabbage and your choice of extra ingredients. These can be Osaka style, where the extra ingredients are added into the batter, or Hiroshima style, where the ingredients are cooked on top of thinly spread batter, and often include yakisoba noodles.


Traditionally, as the pancake is cooking it is brushed with Japanese Worcestershire sauce, a thicker, sweeter sauce than the Western version. Years ago when I was demonstrating this recipe, a small, quietly spoken Japanese man who was watching, told me I should do it as his mother had taught him by brushing the sauce on each side, then turning it and cooking it until the sauce caramelised onto the pancake. I have been doing it that way ever since!

The cooked pancake is then served with your choice of toppings. The most common toppings are Japanese mayonnaise, less sweet than the Western one and drizzled in a zigzag pattern over the top of the pancake, shredded seaweed (aonori), pickled ginger (usually the saltier red ginger (beni-shoga) but you could also use the pink ginger (gari) served with sushi and sashimi) and dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi).









It was great, so if you want to have this bread, please follow the instructions below to variations

OKONAMIYAKI

Ingredients
2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups (375ml) dashi (Japanese stock) or water
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 large cabbage leaves
125g minced pork (optional )
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup (125ml) Japanese worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons pickled ginger
1 tablespoons aonori (shredded dried seaweed)
1/4 cup (3g) dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi)
Method

Sift flour and baking powder into a medium bowl.
Combine dashi and beaten eggs and gradually stir into flour. If time permits, mixture can be left to stand for 30 minutes.
Cut down each side of the thick ribs of the cabbage leaves in a ‘V’ shape and remove. Finely slice or shred the leaves.
Add cabbage and pork to the batter, mixing until well combined.
Lightly grease a medium frypan or BBQ over a low heat. Spoon in a quarter of the batter and flatten with a spatula.
When bubbles begin to appear in the mixture, turn the pancake over and brush the cooked side with sauce.
Cook about 2 minutes, without allowing the mixture to burn,then turn the pancake over again and brush with sauce.
Turn the pancake over and cook until sauce caramelises onto the pancake.
Remove from pan and sprinkle with pickled ginger, seaweed and bonito flakes.
Repeat with remaining oil and batter.

Optional ingredients: Add prawns, blanched octopus, vegetables, green onion, kimchi (Korean pickle), tempura ‘bits’ (cooked batter scooped out of oil after deep frying tempura) to batter.

Notes: Dashi granules can be used to make dashi stock, usually 1/2 teaspoon stirred into 2 cups of water, but can be adjusted to taste. Dried Okonamiyaki mixtures are available from Asian food store, usually plain or with ocotpus.