Japanese comfort food!

I first tried okonomiyaki at a good old food court in a shopping centre in Melbourne. I wish I could say it was at some cool Isakaya down some hidden lane in the inner suburbs but alas that is not the case. In fact now that I think about it, I don't think I have ever actually had okonomiyaki except at dodgy food courts. It's always a safe bet when in doubt! I think thats the great thing about okonomiyaki - its such as simple recipe that it's almost impossible to make a bad one. It's really just a thick cabbage pancake with sauce. And it's all about the sauce and toppings! How can your not love a recipe that requires not one, but two delicious sauces?! Heaven.

I have recently developed an aversion to shopping centres, so I though it was about time I experimented making my own okonomiyaki. I had never tried making them before so I spent the day googling and reading about all the different ways to make this popular recipe. This is how I generally approach a new recipe. I have an idea, do lots of research (by “research” I mean googling) and pick and choose what I like best from the different recipes and get experimenting.

First stop was the sauce. As I just mentioned, sauce in my opinion, is everything. The more the better. Okonomiyaki typically has two sauces, a rich sweet brown soy based sauce and Kewpie mayo. Obviously you can just buy Kewpie but I recommend making your own okonomiyake sauce.

I tried buying a few specific okonomiyaki sauces from Asian speciality shops but didn't like any of them. So I highly recommend following my instructions and make your own sauce – seriously it couldn't be easier. Who knew can make it from staple pantry ingredients? It's just soy sauce, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and sugar. It cooks down to make a delicious sticky sauce that tastes exactly like the real thing. Seriously I was amazed. If I had know this before I would have been making these for years!

Second issue I needed to tackle was making a truly vegetarian version that sill tastes authentic (ish). Traditional okonomiyaki contains dashi stock, bonito and sometimes pork. Bonito and dashi stock are made from dried fish so I needed an alternative.

I had some vegan shiitake dashi stock but it's pretty hard to get your hands on so I have opted for vegetarian “chicken” stock in the recipe. I wanted to create a recipe that was simple and didn't require any trips to a specialty Japanese grocery store. So all the ingredients for this recipe can be found at your average supermarket. The stock goes into the batter along with shredded cabbage, egg, flour and spring onions. Traditionally okonomiyaki batter also contain tenkasu, crispy deep fried tempura crumbs. You can but these in packets but I have opted not to include them as they are not easily available. If you are able to get some, by all means add them to the batter!

To compensate for the lack of crunch in the batter from the tenkasu, I have added some golden fried shallots and toasted sesame seeds to the top. And I think it works really well! To replace the fishy flavour of the bonito flakes, I use crushed toasted nori. Easy! Lastly, some green spring onions for freshness, pickled ginger to offset the sweet sauce and crushed dried chilli for a little optional kick.

And that sums up how I came about creating this recipe. I obviously experiment with lots of new recipes and I have to say this is one is right up there with my favourites. It ticks so many boxes. Cheap, easy, quick and most importantly delicious. I reckon even fussy children will love this recipe! Mine do but without the sauce which absolutely kills me! No sauce! How are they my children?!

Easy Vegetarian Okonomiyaki

Makes 4

Dietary guide: This recipe is vegetarian. For a vegan, gluten free or FODMAP friendly adaptation, see the end of the recipe.

Ingredients

2 free range eggs

300g of finely shredded green cabbage (about 5 cups)

2 tablespoon of spring onions chopped (green or white part)

80g of plain four

100ml of hot water

1 vegetarian “chicken” style stock cube

A pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

1 teaspoon of sugar

1/2 cup of vegetable oil for frying

To garnish

Kewpie mayo or vegan mayo

Okonomiyaki sauce (see below)

1 sheet of nori (dried seaweed for handrolls)

1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds

1 tablespoon of sliced spring onions (green part only)

1 tablespoon of pickled ginger roughly chopped

1/4 cups of fried shallots

Crushed dried red chilli (optional)

Okonomiyaki sauce

2 tablespoons of light soy sauce

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of tomato sauce*

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce (make sure it’s a vegetarian brand such Spring Gully, Woolworths and Coles branded)*

2 tablespoons of sake or rice cooking wine (optional)

* You can use tonkasu sauce instead of the tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Tomato sauce and Worcestershire combine to taste very similar to tonkasu (available at most supermarkets). Choice is yours. I personally prefer the end result better using tonkasu but the difference is very minimal. If you opt for tonkasu, use 2 tablespoons instead of the tomato and Worcestershire sauce.

Instructions

To make the sauce heat all ingredients in a small saucepan until thickened to a runny honey consistency. Set aside.
Combine the hot water and stock cube in a small bowl and mash with a fork to dissolve. Add the stock to a mixing bowl along with the eggs, salt, sesame oil, sugar and flour. Mix to form a batter. Add the cabbage and spring onion and mix well.
Heat a fry pan over medium heat. When hot, dry fry the sheet or nori for about ten seconds each side or until its becomes fragrant and crisps up. Crush in a mortar or pestle or with your hands. Set aside until needed.
Add a 1/4 of the vegetable oil to the pan and pour in ¼ of the batter - use a spoon to slightly flatter and shape the sides of pancake into a circle shape. Fry for about 5 minutes or until the underside is golden brown, flip and cook until both sides are nice and crispy. Use more oil if the okonomiyaki is looking dry. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining batter and oil (you may want to use 2 frypans to speed the cooking process up). Let the pancakes sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.
To serve, spread a good tablespoon of the okonomiyaki sauce (sauce can be room temperature or warm) over the pancake , drizzle with mayo and top with the sesame seeds, green spring onions, nori, ginger, fried shallots and chilli is using. Enjoy!

Vegan adaption

Replace the egg with 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds and and extra 2 tablespoons of water. Also add ½ a teaspoon of baking powder to the batter.
Use vegan mayo and make sure your Worcestershire sauce is vegan. Spring Gully, Woolworths and Coles branded are all vegan but Holebrooks and Lea Perrins are NOT vegan (contain fish).

FODMAP friendly adaptation

Use Gf flour
Omit the fried shallots and use the green part of the spring onion only in there batter
Tonkasu sauce contains apple so opt for the tomato sauce and Worcestershire option in the okonomiyaki sauce.
Make sure you use common cabbage not savoy.
Use a FODMAP friendly stock cubes such as Massel's brand.
Keep your intake to 1 pancake per serve to stay within the safe recommended amount of cabbage.

Gluten free adaptation