Okonomiyaki : Easy Japanese Street Food Recipe
Nothing Else Batters
What is Okonomiyaki?
A popular street food across Japan, okonomiyaki is a savoury pancake with cabbage and selected toppings.
The dish’s name ‘okonomi’ literally means ‘to one’s liking’ so feel free to change up the recipe and add pork, chicken, seafood or tofu instead.
You’ll love it if…
You love crispy, fluffy, savoury pancakes with tangy, sweet sauces. Okonomiyaki has it all – flavour, texture, good looks… and those little bonito flakes dancing on top *Chef’s kiss*
Okonomiyaki! Fun to eat, fun to say! Certainly fun to spell, I say, as I copy-paste the word from Wikipedia yet again to make sure I’ve spelt it right.
I am terrible at learning languages so remembering a word like okonomiyaki is a struggle. Nelson will sometimes egg me on to say it, just to laugh at my stumbling around, Ono-mikasi? Okay-no-miyasi? Bah.
Regardless, these Japanese savoury pancakes are one of my favourite dishes ever. The fluffy batter studded with crunchy cabbage (I’m not a huge fan of cabbage but here it adds all of the texture and non of the school lunch flavour) and those jewels of prawn and crispy bits of bacon. Topped with delicious sweet and tangy katsu sauce and Kewpie mayonnaise. Finished off with those fluttery bonito flakes that are so delighted to be there, that they do a little interpretive dance on the top. Jazz hands!
A quick side note of appreciation for Kewpie
Is Kewpie the best mayonnaise? Nelson is an avid fan but there’s a brand of Polish mayonnaise, Winiary, that I absolutely adore. (Yes this is actually something we debate regularly). Not on okonomiyaki though. For that, it’s got to be Kewpie.
Anyway Okonomiyaki gets 10/10 for texture, flavour and looks. There’s a reason this is the first recipe on the blog.
Okonomiyaki literally translates to as you like it, so you can get creative and put whatever you like in. I’ll let Nelson explain that, I’m just here to eat.
Prepare the Batter
Mix all the batter ingredients and keep aside to ferment at room temperature for at least 30 mins.
Cook the Pancake
Pre-cook the bacon in a pan and lightly sear the prawns. Spoon in a big dollop of batter into the pan. Top with bacon and prawns and another dollop of batter. Once the sides are cooked, flip the pancake and cook through.
Add the Toppings
Remove and plate. Spread an even thin layer of Okonomiyaki / Katsu sauce on the cooked pancake and drizzle over the Kewpie mayonnaise.
Serve and Enjoy
Top with chopped spring onions and sprinkle a handful of Bonito Flakes on the top. Watch the Bonito Flakes dance around and dig right in. Works great in a lunchbox too. *Chef’s kiss*
- You can use any type of cabbage in this recipe. I have used purple cabbage for extra colour.
- Add sausages instead of the prawns and/or bacon and make this a breakfast favourite
- There is a recipe below for homemade okonomiyaki/katsu sauce, but if you can’t be bothered, any barbecue sauce (or HP sauce) is a perfectly fine alternative.
- You can make this recipe vegan. See FAQs at the end of the recipe.
Okonomiyaki – Japanese Savoury Pancakes
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Combine all the batter ingredients by mixing all the dry ingredients first (1⅓ cups all purpose flour, 3 tablespoons corn starch / potato starch, 1 teaspoon white pepper powder) then adding the ½ cup water, 1 egg and finally folding 1 teaspoon ginger crushed and the vegetables (1 cup shredded cabbage, ½ cup Daikon or any white radish, pureed and 1 cup scallions / spring onions, finely sliced). The batter should have the consistency of a very heavily dressed coleslaw Keep the batter aside to ferment at room temperature for at least 30 mins. The batter will thin out as moisture will seep out of the vegetables. Mix the batter again before cooking.
- Marinate 6 large prawns with a little salt, pepper & 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil for at least 15 mins prior to cooking
- Once the batter has fermented and you are ready to cook, pre-cook 4 strips of bacon in a non stick pan on a medium heat. Keep aside. In the same pan at the same heat setting, lightly sear the prawns in the bacon grease for 10 seconds on either side. Put aside.
- Using the same pan with the bacon grease, turn your heat setting down to low. Stir the batter again, and spoon in a big pancake size dollop of batter into the pan.
- Push the bacon and the cooked prawns into the batter while it is still wet. Drizzle in some more batter over the bacon and prawns so they set into the batter. Cover with lid and turn up the heat to medium.
- Once you see the sides of the okonomiyaki solidify and give away from the pan (about five minutes) you can flip the "pancake" and cook with the lid off for a few more minutes, until cooked through. Remove from pan and put on a plate.
- Spread an even thin layer of Okonomiyaki / Katsu sauce on the cooked pancake and drizzle over the mayonnaise*. *The Chef recommends Kewpie mayonnaise
- Top with chopped spring onions / scallions and sprinkle a handful of Bonito Flakes on the top.
- Watch the Bonito Flakes dance around and dig right in. Works great in a lunchbox as well.
Video
FAQ
Yes you can! Swap out the egg in the batter for aquafaba or add a pinch of baking soda. Use a vegan mayonnaise and fill with mushrooms, tofu or jackfruit. Unfortunately there is no vegan replacement for Bonito flakes but you can use furikake instead, or omit altogether.
Use any cabbage of your choice. The chef used purple cabbage for colour.
Typical toppings include okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, bonito flakes (katsuobushi), and dried seaweed flakes (aonori). You can also add pickled ginger, green onions, or any other preferred toppings to suit your taste.
While okonomiyaki is best enjoyed fresh, you can prepare the batter and chop the ingredients ahead of time. Store them separately in the refrigerator and combine just before cooking. Cooked okonomiyaki can also be refrigerated and reheated, though the texture may change slightly.
Yes, it freezes well. You can freeze the batter or the cooked pancake without the topping sauces but the chef recommends freezing the pancake. Just pop in the microwave to reheat and add the toppings and garnishes.
