{"id":462,"date":"2009-08-31T18:14:42","date_gmt":"2009-08-31T08:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/?p=462"},"modified":"2021-02-08T22:58:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T12:58:12","slug":"japanese-pancake-okonamiyaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/2009\/08\/31\/japanese-pancake-okonamiyaki\/","title":{"rendered":"Savoury Japanese pancake &#8211; Okonamiyaki"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"top\" \/>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">On ABC NSW radio<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Not a traditional pancake, and not quite an omelette or pizza, perhaps Okonamiyaki is best described as a combination of all. A great comfort food dish that requires little effort, is easy to make and fun to eat. The Japanese ingredients are readily available from Asian food stores, many of them now also available from Western supermarkets, or just substitute. The recipe won&#8217;t be ruined if you use substitutes.<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Okonomi<\/em> means &#8220;your choice&#8221;, and that is exactly what it can be with a simple flour, egg, dashi stock or water batter with shredded cabbage and your choice of extra ingredients. These can be Osaka style, where the extra ingredients are added into the batter, or Hiroshima style, where the ingredients are cooked on top of thinly spread batter, and often include yakisoba noodles. <\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Traditionally, as the pancake is cooking it is brushed with Japanese Worcestershire sauce, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">a thicker, sweeter<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> sauce than the Western version. Years ago when I was demonstrating this recipe, a small, quietly spoken Japanese man who was watching, told me I should do it as his mother had taught him by brushing the sauce on each side, then turning it and cooking it until the sauce caramelised onto the pancake. I have been doing it that way ever since!<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The cooked pancake is then served with your choice of toppings. The most common toppings are Japanese mayonnaise, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">less sweet than the Western one and drizzled<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> in a zigzag pattern over the top of the pancake, shredded seaweed (aonori), pickled ginger (usually the saltier red ginger (beni-shoga) but you could also use the pink ginger (gari) served with sushi and sashimi) and dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi).<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<h3>So, here&#8217;s the Okonamiyaki recipe from my <strong><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Women&#8217;s Weekly Japanese Cookbook<\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>,<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/strong> but feel free to experiment with variations.<\/h3>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #008000;\">OKONAMIYAKI<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Ingredients<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2 cups (300g) plain flour<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1 1\/2 teaspoons baking powder<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1 1\/2 cups (375ml) dashi (Japanese stock) or water<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1 egg, lightly beaten<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2 large cabbage leaves<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">125g minced pork (optional )<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2 tablespoons vegetable oil<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1\/2 cup (125ml) Japanese worcestershire sauce<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2 tablespoons pickled ginger<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1 tablespoons aonori (shredded dried seaweed)<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1\/4 cup (3g) dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi)<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Method<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sift flour and baking powder into a medium bowl.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Combine dashi and beaten eggs and gradually stir into flour. If time permits, mixture can be left to stand for 30 minutes.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cut down each side of <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the thick ribs of the cabbage leaves <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">in a &#8216;V&#8217; shape and r<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">emove. Finely slice or shred the leaves.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Add cabbage and pork to the batter, mixing until well combined.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lightly grease a medium frypan or BBQ over a low heat. Spoon in a quarter of the batter and flatten with a spatula.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When bubbles begin to appear in the mixture, turn the pancake over and brush the cooked side with sauce. <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cook about 2 minutes, without allowing the mixture to burn,then turn the pancake over again and brush with sauce. <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Turn the pancake over and cook until sauce caramelises onto the pancake.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Remove from pan and sprinkle with pickled ginger, seaweed and bonito flakes.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Repeat with remaining oil and batter.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Optional ingredients:<\/span> Add prawns, blanched octopus, vegetables, green onion, kimchi (Korean pickle), tempura &#8216;bits&#8217; (cooked batter scooped out of oil after deep frying tempura) to batter.<\/h3>\n<p><em>Notes: <\/em><em>Dashi granules can be used to make dashi stock, usually 1\/2 teaspoon stirred into 2 cups of water, but can be adjusted to taste.<\/em><em> Dried Okonamiyaki mixtures are available from Asian food store, usually plain or with ocotpus.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how to make this traditional but easy comfort food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[77,47,73,76,75,74,72],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-easy-recipes","category-radio-food-segments","tag-comfort-food","tag-easy-japanese-cooking","tag-easy-recipe","tag-japanese-cuisine","tag-japanese-ingredients","tag-japanese-pancake","tag-savoury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193,"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brigidtreloar.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}