With cabbage as its prime ingredient, okonomiyaki is the most comforting Japanese street food. Gastronomes enjoy this dish because of the customization it offers- You can add your favourite toppings and spices. For this reason, vegetarians also like this dish. On the internet, you will find many ways to recreate this recipe. However, in this guide, I will teach you to cook authentic savoury pancakes with three key ingredients- and the taste is delectable. However, wait! There is a misconception among the Americans. They regard okonomiyaki as a Japanese pizza. However, okonomiyaki is not a pizza- it is a Japanese pancake. Before sharing the recipe, let us unleash an interesting fact about okonomiyaki. The Japanese term okonomiyaki originated from amalgamating okonomi, meaning as you like it, and yaki, meaning grill.
What is Okonomiyaki?
Eggs, flour, grated yam, and tempura scraps are the prime ingredients for the batter. However, wait! The batter is not ready till you add grated cabbage and other hearty ingredients like squid and shrimp. This Japanese delicacy becomes a showstopper when topped with juicy pork belly pieces while grilling. When ready to eat, the Japanese serve this dish with delicious toppings, like dried bonito flakes, dried seaweed, Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, and okonomiyaki sauce. Making okonomiyaki is simple- you will enjoy recreating this dish at home. The best part about making okonomiyaki is that you get the ingredients at a reasonable cost.
Note: If you are diet-conscious and can’t compromise your diet, use whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. But yes, if you use whole-wheat flour, the taste and texture would change. If you want to make your okonomiyaki tasty and healthy, use both- Wheat flour and refined flour.
Ingredients
Yields up to around four servings
For preparing the batter:
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp sugar
- 5.6 oz grated mountain yam (Nagaimo)
- ¾ cup Japanese dashi
(Make a quick vegan dashi if you are a vegetarian/vegan. Want recipe? Comment below!)
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
For the okonomiyaki
- Eggs (4-5)
- ½ cabbage
- ¼ cup kizami beni shoga or beni shoga
- ½ lb pork belly (Use mushroom if you are a vegan).
- ½ cup tempura scrap/tenkasu.
Serve okonomiyaki with the savoury okonomiyaki sauce.
Note: You will get okonomiyaki sauce at supermarkets. However, if you prefer making everything from scratch, comment below, and I will share the homemade okonomiyaki sauce recipe.
Tips to Make the Best Okonomiyaki
- Make the base batter beforehand and let it rest for at least one hour. It will make your batter fluffy.
- In the meantime, chop other ingredients. Remove water from the cabbage before adding it to the batter.
- Add chopped ingredients to the base batter, and your okonomiyaki batter is ready.
Japanese use electric girdles to cook okonomiyaki. However, you may make them in a frying pan if you do not have an electric girdle.
3 Prime Ingredients and their substitutes:
The prime ingredients used in making the fluffiest okonomiyaki are:
- Nagaimo
If you don’t have nagaimo, you may use yamaino.
- Tenkasu
You may use tempura scraps instead of tenkasu. Though unhealthy, you may cheat once in a while.
- Dashi
You can use packaged dashi instead of homemade dashi. Add packaged dashi in hot water and boil it for around five minutes.
If you wish, you may skip making base batter at home. Yes, you heard it right! You may purchase the base batter premix online or buy it from Japanese groceries. If using premix, only add beaten eggs and water, and the batter is ready. However, I do not suggest using the ready-made batter.
Serving Options
Okonomiyaki tastes superb when paired with these side dishes:
- Cold Tofu
- Edamame
- Harusame Salad
- Japanese Fried Chicken
- Japanese Beer
- Bean Sprout Namul and Spinach Namul
- Salted Chicken Wings
- Tomato Salad
Directions to Use
- Add flour, baking powder, sugar, and kosher salt in a large bowl and mix it to make a homemade base batter.
- First, peel and then grate mountain yam. Mountain yam is slippery and causes itchiness. Hence, immediately wash your hands after peeling mountain yam to avoid itchiness.
- In a mixing bowl, combine dashi and grated mountain yam.
- Combine dashi and grated mountain yam with the prepared batter and whisk until it smoothens. If possible, wrap this mixture and refrigerate it for at least an hour.
- Meanwhile, cut a large cabbage into two halves and chop it into thin slices. Now, grate these cabbage slices. However, ensure that it doesn’t release water.
- Slice beni shoga/kizami beni shoga and pork belly.
- When ready, remove the batter from the fridge, add beaten eggs, and beni shoga/kizami beni shoga. Whisk until it softens and becomes fluffy.
- Drizzle oil in electric girdle/ non-stick pans. No, do not correct me! I have deliberately mentioned pans. I mean to say that if cooking on your gas, use two pans to cook two okonomiyaki in one go.
- Drizzle oil and let it warm slightly. Using a spatula, spread the batter. Okonomiyaki is thick. However, if preparing okonomiyaki for the first time, I suggest you make thin okonomiyaki. It will be simple for you to spread and flip the batter.
- Add pork belly slices. Cover it and cook on a low flame for around 5 minutes. After five minutes, flip it over, cover it, and let the other side cook, too.
- Remove the lid, and cook it uncovered for around two minutes.
- Remove it from the pan, add okonomiyaki sauce, toppings and condiments according to your taste, and ENJOY!
