Serves: 2
Approx cost: €3.50
Approx calories (per serving): ~400
Approx preparation and cooking time: 40 mins
Okonomiyaki is a type of Japanese pancake – the specific ingredients can vary a great deal, after all, even the name encourages modification according to taste: Okonomi, meaning “what you like” and yaki meaning “grilled”. Each region of Japan will usually have its own specific style, so the one I’m making is probably no specific style. The first time I had this was in a restaurant in Paris – the noodle place I usually go to was packed so I popped into the place next door. I have to say, I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of a fried cabbage pancake at first glance but I was pleased I did afterwards – It was really great, and it’s a whole load of fun to make at home too. I only had red cabbage at home, which gave everything a lovely purple hue. If you can get your hands on it, try and find some Katsuobushi shavings to sprinkle on top before adding the sauce(s) – especially if you’re making a fish or shrimp pancake – for an extra delicious touch.
Ingredients
– 175g Minced Beef
– ~1 quarter of a Red or White Cabbage
– 1 Onion
– 1 egg
– 6 tbsps Plain Flour
– 6 tbsps Milk
– 3 tsps Chilli Purée
– Salt
– Pepper
– 1 bunch Asparagus Spears
– ~1 tbsp + 2 tsps Sunflower Oil
To Garnish
– Okonomiyaki Sauce (Similar to Worcestershire Sauce, but sweeter and thicker)
– Mayonnaise
Instructions
- Start off by whisking the Milk and Flour together in a large bowl. Once blended, add in the egg and whisk until you have a thick batter. The mixture should be thick but still able to be poured – if it’s too thick (or not thick enough) add in a little extra milk or flour accordingly.
- Next, remove the stalk from the cabbage and chop very finely. If you have one available, use a Mandoline. Peel and chop the Onion roughly and transfer the chopped cabbage and onion to the bowl with the batter and mix well to ensure the cabbage is well coated. Don’t worry if the amount of batter compared to cabbage seems low – you don’t need much batter, as the primary taste and ingredient of the pancake should be the cabbage itself – not the mix binding it together.
- Add a teaspoon each or so of Salt and Pepper to the cabbage and then heat the Sunflower Oil in a large frying pan. When hot, you can start to cook the pancake. You can either split the mixture into two and make two separate pancakes, keeping the first hot in the oven while you cook the second, or make one large one and split it in half at the end. This time around I made one large one, but you tend to achieve better results if you make two smaller ones. Transfer the cabbage mix (or half of it) to the frying pan and place it in a clump in the centre of the pan. Push it down with a spoon or spatula, trying to keep the shape as round as possible. It should be just over 2 cm thick. Fry on one side for about 5 minutes before carefully flipping over and frying again for another 5 minutes. Use a wide spatula to flip it and do it quite fast. Despite looking loose, it should turn quite easily. Flip once again and cook for 5 minutes and finally flip again and cook for 5 minutes. While it’s frying you can move onto step 4.
- You can obviously choose any topping you like – pressing some shrimps into the pancake before you flip it the first time is really good, but in this case I opted for something very quick and easy. Put the 2 tsps of Sunflower Oil into a saucepan and heat. When hot, add in the meat and fry through. Once cooked, add in the Chilli Purée and stir well. Continue cooking until you have cooked away any meat juices. You can also add in freshly chopped herbs or garlic if you have it to hand.
- Finally, wash the Asparagus spears and snap off the bottoms of the stalks about half-way up. You’ll find the best place to snap them easily. Take each end and bend them gently in the centre and they should just snap by themselves. Bring a small pan of water to the boil and plunge the asparagus into the boiling water for about 3 minutes, until the Asparagus has turned a darker green. Place the pancake on a plate and top with the meat or other topping. Squeeze lines of Okonomiyaki sauce going one way, and mayonnaise going the other, and then drain the asparagus and arrange next to the pancake and enjoy!
A_Boleyn says
I saw your comment regarding your favourite Japanese food suggestions on Eat, Play, Love and decided to check out your recipe for this. I've seen much more elaborate recipes but figure for a case where I'll probably be the only one eating the pancake, as my 86 yr old mom is not adventurous, I should stick to something simpler like this. At first I couldn't identify the onion among the shredded red cabbage and wondered if you had omitted it this time but … there it is. 🙂
One question about the chili puree since the picture is too small to see details. Is it more like a sambal oelek or a sriracha type sauce? How hot is it? I had to look up katsobushi as well. I'll have to check out my local asian grocery stores to see if any is available locally. So much fun trying out new recipes. Thank you.
Charles says
Hey there – thanks for taking a look. I used a chilli purée which was more similar to sambal oelek. I had to look up "sambal oelek" but it seems almost the same as the stuff I used. It's not too hot. More a mix of sweet, salty, flavoursome spice. Not something you want to eat in spoons on its own, but not a big deal to mix with something. To be honest, frying some shrimps with the chilli sauce and pushing them into the "uncooked" side of the pancake before flipping it is the more traditional okonomiyaki pancake I think – these are the ones they serve in a restaurant I go to!
I ended up making a two HUGE pancakes and dividing it into halves – it looks a lot better if you make individual ones – I hope you get around to trying it, it's quite a nice, hearty meal!
A_Boleyn says
My question also dealt with the issue that sambal oelek, which is hot, has the whole seeds in a sauce of the chilis, vinegar and sometimes garlic and is usually spooned into preparations or onto a plate for a dip while sriracha (or "cock sauce" for the rooster on the bottle of the most popular brand sold) is a smooth, ground red chili paste with vinegar, sugar etc in it and is squeezed onto/in a dish of noodles etc like you would ketchup or mustard. They're both quite hot by the way. 🙂
Then there's the sweet hot chili paste like you would use for a dip with egg rolls or dumplings which I don't find hot at all. 🙂
I do look forward to making it one day. Right now I'm on an Indian food binge and planning on making some paneer for muttar paneer, a fresh pea and cheese curry to eat over plain basmati rice.
http://www.route79.com/food/mutter-paneer.htm
Charles says
Ah, no the chilli purée I used has the whole chillies – seeds and all inside.
I love paneer – I saw a recipe to make it online one day, because there aren't many places to buy it around where I live… never saw a single place in face. I love indian food – so many delicate and delicious flavours!
Kristy says
We made this tonight for our Japan night. 🙂 Fantastic! Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂
Charles says
Oh! Wonderful! I'm looking forward to reading your post about it and to see what you served it with. Were you able to find the traditional "Okonomiyaki" sauce? There's a Japanese store near me by the way. If you ever wanted I can send you some bits and bobs from there, like the sauce, or the tuna flakes etc. Let me know if you'd like anything! 🙂
Kristy says
Thank you Charles! You are so sweet. 🙂 I will definitely keep that in mind. We couldn't find the okonomiyaki sauce at the store, but we found a recipe to make one so we went that route. We also did the shrimp version you suggested. Yum! Yum! Yum!
nipponnin says
This is fancier than my version of okonomiyaki. The color purple is lovely! So good looking!