Japanese Pizza Okonomiyaki Recipe - Easy Cabbage Pancake

Japanese Pizza Pancake Okonomiyaki

An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella

Makes 3-4

• 2 cups plain flour

• 4 eggs lightly beaten

• 300ml water or milk

• 1/2 cup green shallots, sliced

• 1 1/2 cups Cabbage, torn into smallish pieces

• 1/3 cup thin carrot batons

• 1/2 cup chicken sliced or prawns or bacon or whatever you have

• Oil for frying

• Mayonnaise (preferably Japanese Kewpie Mayo, Praise and Kraft are not suitable for this)

• Okonomiyaki sauce (in a pinch mix some BBQ sauce with some Worcestershire sauce but I urge you to try and get the real thing)

• Bonito fish flakes (optional)

• Seasoned Seaweed sheet (optional)

• Pickled ginger (optional)

Buyer's tip: All of these ingredients can be found at Japanese grocery stores and some Asian grocery stores. Some larger supermarkets will also have some of these items in their Japanese/Asian aisles (i.e. the mayonnaise, pickled ginger and seaweed sheets).

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Step 1 - Heat frying pan on medium heat. Whilst it is heating, in a large bowl, empty flour, lightly beaten eggs and water to form a thick pancake type batter. Add the cabbage, carrot and green shallots to the batter and mix thoroughly.

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Step 2 - Using 1 tablespoon of oil, fry the chicken, prawns or bacon until cooked through. Add this to the batter mix. Add more oil to the frying pan and then spoon one third or one quarter of the mixture into the centre of the pan in a circle that is about 1.5-2cms thick. Do not add too much mix or do not make it too thick or it will not cook properly inside (and will taste overly floury). Shape into a rough circle with the edges of a egg flip.

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Step 3 - Place frying pan lid on top and cook for a few minutes until the bottom is cooked and then carefully turn over and cook again with the lid on until it is thoroughly cooked (you can insert a skewer into the centre and if it comes out clean, then it's cooked). The total cooking time per pancake is about 10 minutes.

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Step 4 - Once fully cooked, transfer to a plate brush liberally with Okonomiyaki sauce and or squirt patterns of it along with the Mayonnaise in a lattice pattern or whatever pattern you like. Top with seaweed flakes and bonito flakes if desired (the bonito flakes sway in the breeze and children find them rather cool as they look “alive”).

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To do a feathered effect with the mayonnaise: spread with brown okonomiyaki sauce. Take your tube of Kewpie mayonnaise. It will disperse the mayonnaise in a star shaped pattern but this is too thick to achieve the feathered "spider's web" look. Either use a small plain nozzle and attach it to the end or if you don't have one, get a zip lock bag and cut a small hole at the end of it. Place the tube of mayonnaise in it with the star tip aligned to the hole. Squeeze the mayonnaise in a circular pattern as shown using the hole to make it come out in the way way a plain nozzle would do. Using a skewer, drag the lines from the centre to the edge to create the feathered effect.

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An adult's version might have some red pickled ginger on top as well or use seafood in the filling instead of chicken.

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