Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake)

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients and it literally means pan fry (“yaki”) whatever you like (“okonomi”) — kind of like pizza in the Western world.

Ingredients

2 cups	Standard flour (Main)
2 cups	Water
2 tsp	Dashi (Main)
½ tsp	Soy sauce
½	Cabbages, finely chopped (Main)
1 bunch	Spring onion, finely chopped
4	Eggs
60 g	Bacon, cut into small pieces
16	Prawns, raw

Directions

1. For the batter, whisk together the flour, water, dashi and soy sauce in a medium-sized bowl until smooth.
2. In a separate small bowl, put a handful of cabbage, a small handful of spring onion, 1 egg, bacon, 4 prawns and 1 ladle-full of the batter. Mix well. This will make one medium-sized pancake.
3. Place a medium-sized frying pan over medium-high heat and add some cooking oil. Use a spoon to spread the pancake mix in a circle 1-1½ cm thick in the frying pan.
4. When air bubbles start to rise in the middle of the pancake and the bottom of the pancake has slightly browned, turn it over with a spatula and cook for a further 3 minutes.
5. Transfer to the plate. Add a drizzle of okonomiyaki sauce, a drizzle of mayonnaise and sprinkle with dried bonito flakes and seaweed flakes to serve.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 to make 4 pancakes in total.

Garnish with any or all: okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise. dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi), seaweed flakes (aonori) or shredded seaweed. You will find all of these ingredients at JapanMart and in some Asian groceries and supermarkets. If you can't find seaweed flakes (anori), cut sheets of nori into strips using scissors.