This savoury pancake is a popular street food snack in Osaka, Japan. Healthyish, budget friendly and quick cooking, there’s loads to love about this moreish Japanese “pizza”. It’s perfect, cut into wedges and served at a drinks party, or as part of a chilled family supper. Shredded cabbage, juicy prawns, pickled ginger and spring onions are mixed together in a light batter and cooked until golden and crisp. We then slather the pancake in homemade okonomi sauce, drizzle it with Japanese mayo and finish it with sliced spring onions and nori.
The combo is deeply savoury, gooey, a little sweet from the sauce and so addictive you will be making these every week. This recipe comes together in a flash with our peeled and prepared prawns and our version uses ingredients that are easy to source in most super markets. Okonomi loosely translates to “what you want” so don’t limit yourself to just prawns, as calamari, cheese, bacon and chicken are all absolutely delicious in these too. Get those creative juices flowing and don’t forget to tag us!
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
For the Pancake
- 3/4 Cup Flour
- 1/2 Tsp Salt • 1/2 Tsp Sugar • 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
- 120 ml of Fish Stock
- 150g Firm Silken Tofu, mashed with a fork
- 3 Eggs
- 450g Green Cabbage, thinly sliced
- 2 Spring Onions, finely sliced
- 1/2 Cup Rice Crackers OR Tempura Scraps
- 100g Caught Online Peeled Medium Prawns
- 3 Tbsp Pickled Ginger (option but great!)
- Thinly sliced nori seaweed, and spring onions for topping
For the Sauce
- 3 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 5 Tbsp Tomato Sauce
- 3Tbsp Oyster Sauce
Instructions
Mix your flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, mashed tofu and fish stock together in a large mixing bowl until combined.
For best results allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes (or up to one hour) while you make your sauce and shred your cabbage.
Why Tofu? Traditionally the Japanese use yamaimo, a local mountain yam, which makes the batter really spongy and light.
Tofu is a great, easily sourced alternative, enriching our batter with protein, vitamins and minerals, while keeping it light.
Next make your sauce. Combine all the ingredients in a pot or microwave safe bowl, and warm until the sugar has dissolved.
Set the sauce aside until needed.
Rice Crackers vs Tempura scraps. Tempura scraps are little blobs of fried tempura batter and a common Japanese ingredient. They help our pancake stay aerated and fluffy, and are usually found in bags at speciality asian grocery stores. We found that plain, salted rice crackers chopped into 1-2mm bits are a great substitution.
Once the batter has rested whisk in the eggs, then add the cabbage, spring onions, chopped rice crackers, prawns and pickled ginger. Mix everything together. The batter will just lightly coat the cabbage.
Place a non stick pan over a medium heat, add a drizzle of oil, then add 1-2 cups of pancake mix (smaller pancakes are easier to flip). Use a spatula to shape your pancake into a fat round, about 2cm thick. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the pancake for 5 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown. Once the bottom is a lovely and brown, flip the pancake. Using a spatula press the pancake gently into the pan to ensure everything browns evenly. Cook the pancake, covered, for 5 more minutes.
Repeat the process with the remaining batter.
To serve brush the okonomiyaki with okonomi sauce, drizzle over Japanese mayo and finish it with a sprinkle of spring onions and sliced nori. Slice into wedges and serve. Yum!
