Okonomiyaki

One of our favourite Japanese meals is Okonomiyaki: Japanese pancake or Japanese pizza, or maybe more like Japanese omelet. No matter how you describe it, Okonomiyaki is delicious!
There are many variations in the Okonomiyaki recipe, the two main 'styles' come from two different regions in Japan: Osaka style & Hiroshima style. When we were travelling through Japan we took the opportunity to try both styles in their original area. And both are insanely delicious. Basically, Osaka style mixes all the ingredients together in one think pancake, while Hiroshima style cooks the ingredients in different layers on top of each other and adds some noodles to the recipe. Then there are endless variation on filling of your okonomiyaki: beef, pork, shrimp and/or other seafood, etc. You can try many differences!

This time we will share our recipe of the Osaka style Okonomiyaki: all mixed together to form on big pancake. We decided to make it a shrimp okonomiyaki, but fill free to substitute that with other ingredients you like.

Ingredients (2p):

• 100 gr flour
• 160 ml water mixed with dashi powder
• 2 eggs
• 300 gr cabbage

 For the filling (can be substituted for other flavours):

• 150 gr shrimps 

For topping:

• (Kewpie) mayonnaise
• Okonomiyaki sauce (or you can use Tonkatsu sauce or Worcester sauce) 
• Bonito flakes (Katsuobushi)

The video guide:

Mix the flour, dashi-water and eggs together.

 Cut the cabbage in small long pieces (approximately 3 cm by 0,5 cm).

Add the slices cabbage to the batter and mix together.

Add shrimps, and mix together.

Heat some oil in a small fry-pan, divide the Okonomiyaki-batter in two portions and put the first portion in the fry-pan. Do the shaping on low fire and make sure the ingredients are well spread over the pancake/omelet. Bake on medium fire until it becomes a firm structure (takes about 6-8 minutes).

Then comes the hard part: turning it over. You can try doing it how it is supposed to be: flipping it over with a big spatula. It never really works for us. We end up with lots of small disintegrated pieces of Okonomiyaki. Therefore, we found a perfect, and easy way. Take another fry-pan, and just turn the okonomiyaki over into this other fry-pan. Much easier. (see our video for clear instructions)

You can start using the first fry-pan to make the second Okonomiyaki.

When it has finished cooking, put it on a plate.

Add mayonnaise and Okonomiyaki-sauce (preferably in pretty looking stripes or other shapes :)

Add bonito flakes on top and enjoy!

Okonomiyaki