In the light of the cherry blossom festival in Japan, I wanted to do a traditional dish from Japan around the same time. This is a dish that has been on my to-do list for a very long time: Japanese food always seemed really interesting to me. So I thought it would be a perfect time to post now. I’m making an Okonomiyaki (it’s always a tongue-twister at first!), which is basically a savoury Japanese pancake whose main ingredient is shredded cabbage. Get ready because I’m going to cram you with loads of facts! A typical Okonomiyaki batter is made up of cabbage, pork, eggs, dashi (a Japanese stock) and more vegetables. I decided to make a vegetarian version, just so that it could be widely eaten. If you didn’t know, there’re actually two types of Okonomiyaki: Osaka and Hiroshima. The ingredients are pretty much the same but the method is slightly different. In an Osaka style Okonomiyaki, the batter is just mixed and the pancake is cooked. But, in the Hiroshima style, the ingredients are layered. You can think of it as a layered cake.

An okonomiyaki is not complete without its special toppings! Typically you would find Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie mayo), a special Okonomiyaki sauce and bonito flakes. Bonito flakes (Katsuobushi) are basically paper thin slices of smoked tuna. They’re actually used to make dashi stock that I talked about before along with Kombu seaweed. They’re so light that they actually wave like sea anemone; the steam from a hot okonomiyaki is the reason for that! These are more on the traditional side of toppings.

Okonomiyaki literally means as you like so you can actually go crazy with whatever you put on top and that’s what makes these look so incredibly beautiful. I went with Okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, fried ginger and scallions. The Okonomiyaki sauce you’ll find here won’t be the real deal, because I did modify it, but it tastes pretty much the same. You can go traditional if you’re lucky enough to lay your hands on those ingredients! For the batter itself, I decided to go with cabbage, carrots and scallions as the main. I loved making these and I was really excited; you can tell by how much I described this!

There are a lot of ways in which your toppings can vary, so you’ll find a couple of options. So I guess this is a “buffet” post?

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki batter (makes about ginormous 2 pancakes):

• 3 cups julienned cabbage
• 1/2 cup sliced scallions
• ¾ cup grated carrots
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• A pinch of salt
• Cooking/ vegetable oil

Toss together all the vegetables along with a pinch of salt in a bowl. In another large bowl, beat the eggs and combine with flour to form a smooth mixture. Gradually add all the vegetables into the flour mixture. Once all the vegetables have combined, the batter should resemble something like coleslaw. Divide the batter into 3-4 portions. Lightly oil a pan and let it heat slightly. Add one portion of batter and gently press down and shape into a circle. Make sure the pancake is about ½ to 1 inch thick and about 16 cm in diameter. Allow to cook for about 5-6 minutes on medium heat before carefully flipping onto the other side. Allow to cook for another 5-6 minutes on the other side before removing from the pan.

Okonomiyaki sauce:

• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. white sugar
• A pinch of brown sugar
• 4 tbsp. ketchup
• 3 ½ tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Mix together all ingredients.

Other toppings:

• Japanese (Kewpie mayonnaise) {If you just have regular mayonnaise, you can make a close approx. to Kewpie mayo by adding a little rice vinegar and sugar to it, but regular mayo on its own may work fine}
• Fried ginger
• Chopped scallions
• Barbeque sauce

To finish off:

Once the pancake is out of the pan, glaze it with some Okonomiyaki sauce, drizzle mayonnaise and garnish with the toppings of your choice. Dig in! 

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