Okonomiyaki are savoury Japanese pancakes, and there are probably as many recipes out there as there are people who cook them. Essentially, there are two styles: Osaka style – put all ingredients into the batter and fry them – and Hiroshima style – the ingredients are carefully cooked layer by layer. As I live in Kyoto, I will probably end up with more Osaka style recipes, but in the end, both are delicious anyway!
Okonomiyaki à laTokumura Sensei
(for 15 pieces)
– 250 g flour (ideally one half wheat flour and one half okonomiyaki flour)
– 250 ml water
– 3 eggs
– 2 teaspoons of salt
Mix together to a batter with a somewhat liquid consistency.
– 1/2 cabbage
Cut into pieces of roughly 1×1 cm; omit the hardest part of the stem.
– 150 g of sliced raw pork (some fat is good, think bacon)
Cut into pieces of roughly 3×3 cm and fry them in olive oil with salt and pepper.
– 150 g of raw shrimp
Wash and clean the shrimp, remove shells, heads, and guts.
Add the cabbage, fried pork and shrimp to the batter and mix thoroughly.
Grease a pan with olive oil and let it get hot- put a ladle full of okonomiyaki mixture into the pan, flatten it a little and fry it like a pancake from both sides until it is done. It takes about 10 minutes for one piece that is 1 cm thick and 10 cm in diameter.
Serve with special okonomiyaki sauce and dried tuna flakes (traditional) and/or mayonnaise and parsley (optional).