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2011Okonomiyaki, The Savory Japanese Pancake
Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast (or lunch, actually!). I’ve always been a fan of the savory foods over the sweeter ones. Give me a choice between ice cream or french fries and I’ll choose french fries every time. So, a savory pancake? With yummy insides like garlic and onion and spinach… YES PLEASE! It’s a meal you normally make with egg, so you can imagine my excitement when I made it last weekend without and it turned out perfectly. You can imagine me in the kitchen with my arms up in the air making faint crowd cheering noises if you’d like, because that’s what actually happened. And since posting recipes around lunch time always makes me hungry- I will succumb this time and make this for lunch. Have a great weekend, friends!
What You Need
☑ 1 cup flour
☑ 1 egg replacer (Can be store bought or you can use 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar & 1 tsp baking soda)
☑ 1 – 2 cups fresh spinach/kale/nappa cabbage/ or your green of choice [minced]
☑ 3/4 cup rice milk or water
☑ 1/4 tsp salt
☑ Okonomi sauce – If you don’t have access to a Japanese market near you (or can’t order ingredients online), don’t worry, there are lots of sauces that taste good on top. Katsu sauce, aka tonkatsu sauce is great, even teriyaki sauce is delicious. Those can usually be found in the international or Asian sections of your local grocery store.
This is your base recipe. Okonomiyaki literally means “as you like it”. So you can add whatever you like at this stage, your favorite foods or leftovers from previous meals. Things like green onions, shallots, ginger, garlic, seaweed, etc are great examples.
What You Do
1. Preheat pan with oil on medium heat.
2. Place all the batter ingredients into a bowl and stir until just combined- do not over mix!
3. Pour a large pancake sized serving out onto your pan. (I find this recipe makes two large servings, so you should have half the batter left.)
4. Add any additional toppings
5. Allow to cook thoroughly on both sides (3-5 minutes, depending on toppings), add sauce of choice and serve while hot!
Debbie
We had an exchange student from Japan and he made this for us. We loved it too. He added ham and shrimp to ours along with the shredded cabbage. We also topped our pancake with mayonnaise then the tonaka sauce. YUMMM It is a family favorite, going to make it tonight!
jaime
I can do eggs. Can’t do grains. What could I sub for the flour?
Kim
We had a Japanese exchange student and she made this for us. She used coarsely chopped cabbage and smoked ham pieces. ..She also had dried fish that she sprinkled on top…mmmmm it was amazing. We tried to find a recipe and were not able…Thanks for posting.
Sara
this is awesome I was born in Japan and my dad would make Okonomyaki all the time. i sort of became a tradition, but i havent had it in years!! Im so happy i ran across ur blog, Ima go make some for dinner
u
Jennifer
YAY! i always wanted a recipe like this! My boyfriend’s best friend is japanese, and we’ve really been getting into japanese food lately! I saw a review about these on chow.com at a place in NY and i’ve wanted one since then!!
meagan
mmm… they look so yummy… i want to try this! julian and i tried making korean pancakes (kind of the same thing) and it was difficult… if you add too many veggies they fall apart.
i’ve been going through your blog today because i haven’t checked it in sooo long. i miss it actually! i love looking at your photos and reading about you and tom… you’re probably the most inspiring person i’ve met on the internet.
celia
This looks like a delicious recipe! My favorite part is the moving pictures. How did you do that? It’s so cool. As always i love your photography, thanks for sharing!
Sara
I’ll post a tutorial on how to do it, in the meantime you can also use http://picasion.com/
Charissa
I have no idea what that sauce is…hehe, but the whole recipe looks amazing. I’m totally into pancakes…in fact, they are my fave food ever, but this looks like something I haven’t tried. Thanks for sharing!!!!
Chinmayie
That pancake looks great! Never heard of any recipe like this before! I bet it’ll taste great with whole wheat flour too
I too love savory pancakes! I am an Indian and we mostly never have anything sweet for breakfast. We have several Dosa (Indian pancake) varieties which are all mostly savory
Thanks for this great recipe!
Heidi
Yummy! I have lots of greens in the fridge that will be perfect for this! I’m going to try it sometime in the next couple days
woody914
Okonomiyaki is my fav food, too! Every time I go back to Japan (I’m from Japan), I have one. Your version looks great, too! It really suits breakfast or light lunch.
lorena
mmm, looks delicious!
I love your blog.
Maggie
I’ve been learning how to make this for the weekend brunch menu at the tea house I just got a job at, but I don’t think ours look nearly that good. We are in the middle of a menu switch though, you should email them some pointers. : D
Eva
Yum! That looks so delicious! Saving this recipe & hopefully I’ll get a chance to make it asap (as in… tomorrow, when I wake up)!
Ashling
If you have access to a good Asian food store, you can get special okonomiyaki flour too. Most types have seafood based seasoning in them, but maybe you can get some that’re just mixed with yam flour? This prevents the okonomiyaki getting doughy, but your recipe sounds like it contains enough veges to keep that from happening anyway ^_^
Yakisoba noodles are another tasty addition, even if (arguably) not traditional. Thanks for sharing this!
lil_1337
Okonomiyaki is one of the few Japanese foods I really like and that looks good.
Kim
Reminds me of a Japanese version of latkes, which I luh-huhhhve, though they’re traditionally served with both/either applesauce and sour cream and while I love it, I find that to be a deal-breaker for most people who’d rather reach for the ketchup. Potatoes and ketchup are like so yesterday!
I made potato pancakes at home for the first time after having some phenomenal ones at a restaurant in our ‘hood – they put thinly chopped scallions on the “batter.” Mmm-MM! Now I want latkes, haha. I’ll definitely have to try this version sometime.
Sarah Nice
Again. I could totally eat like this all the time. I love your recipes. They sound so delicious!
Zoe
i just had dinner, but i’m hungry all over again now.
Jacqueline
My guy loves this dish! You made it simple enough for even me to try it! Looks so good.
Alyssa
Thank you for the recipe! I have really been wanting to try Okonomiyaki and will trust yours!
Actually, when Catherine visited before we went to the Japanese festival last fall, we considered making Okonomiyaki. Since I wasn’t sure what recipe to use, I ended up making your (delicious!) dumplings. Maybe next time they come over we’ll have to try out this recipe
Danijel Šivinjski
Looks great. YUM!
Bronwyn
This always drew questions from housemates when I made this, haha. I can certainly vouch for the teriyaki sauce. And shallots are GREAT!
Catherine
Ahhh I love Okonomiyaki so much, but I haven’t had it in forever! I need to give it a try again soon – thanks for the recipe!
miss alix
yes please. looks so good. love the animation too.
Jade
Holy yum Batman! Definitely have to try this one out!