Customisation Ideas
Make it your own:
- Seafood lovers: Add chopped prawns, squid, or octopus
- Cheese pull: Add shredded mozzarella or cheddar
- Mushroom boost: Mix in shiitake, enoki, or oyster mushrooms
- Extra crunch: Add bean sprouts or tenkasu
Fermentation variations:
- Swap kimchi for sauerkraut (squeeze dry first)
- Add water kefir grains that need using up (just kidding!)
- Mix in chopped preserved vegetables
- Use kombucha SCOBY... (also kidding)
Tips for Success
- Cabbage prep: Shred cabbage into roughly 3cm pieces—not too fine or it becomes soggy, not too chunky or the pancake won't hold together.
- Batter ratio: The mixture should look more like dressed coleslaw than pancake batter. If it seems too dry, let it sit for 10 minutes—the cabbage will release moisture.
- Mochi magic: The mochi will soften and create delightful stretchy pockets throughout the pancake.
- Natto notes: If you're nervous about natto, start with just 1 tablespoon mixed through. The cooking process mellows its intensity. It's nutritional value survives the hear.
- Don't press! Resist the urge to flatten the pancake while cooking—you want it light and airy, not dense.
Equipment
- Large mixing bowls
- Non-stick frying pan or electric griddle/teppanyaki plate
- Spatula (two make flipping easier)
- Squeeze bottles for sauce and mayo (optional but fun)
Make it a Party
Set up a tabletop cooker and let everyone mix their own combination, cook their own pancake, and customize toppings. It's messy, interactive, and absolutely delicious—the kind of meal that brings people together around the table.
Find it in the shop: We stock, of course, kimchi. Buy Natto from the freezer in your local Asian foodstore or make your own - it's as easy as yoghurt.
Ingredients
Some of the ingredients won’t be in your regular store, so you may need to buy up when you see them (we also stock some of these in our store). If Okonomiyaki didn’t taste so good - the Katsuoboshi might be the main attraction. You can find it in little packets pre-shredded - or if you’d like to bring it up a level - get the impressive whole fish and the wooden grater to shave over the top to watch it come alive and dance, a kind of drama that brings this easy dish up a level in foodie land.
Batter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour*
- ¼ teaspooon salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 180ml dashi **
- ½ - 1 cabbage (or any leftovers from kraut making)
- 4 large eggs
- Vegetable oil
Filling Ideas
- kimchi - chopped and you could use the juice in the dashi
- mochi - chopped into small 1 cm squares and a 30-50g natto
- bacon
- sausage out of it’s casing
- any seafood - prawns, calamari, scallops, small dried fish etc.
- garlic, spring onions, cheese
Okonomi Sauce (this can easily be found in Asian food section or stores but here is an easy way to whip up something similar)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 4 Tbsp ketchup
- 4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
TOPPINGS - this is the fun part and very important!
Okonomi Sauce, Kewpie Mayonnaise, Katsuoboshi (dried bonito), Anonori - (dried seaweed finely chopped), Pickled Red Ginger
* look for special Okonomiyaki flour from your local Japanese store. It usually has a mountain yam flour in it - look for that. If you can’t find that - perhaps look for the yam and grate a chunk of it into the mixture.
** this is a japanese stock - you could also use other stocks you have or even just water
Method
- Mix the batter together - add the fillings - place on oiled hotpan and after it’s cooked to a ‘liftable state’ flip. OR if you are doing this as a cook your own at the table (for four for example) then divide the ingredients into four small bowls and let each person crack their eggs into it, stir and then add their chosen ingredients together. Favourite combinations - chopped kimchi and grated cheese, bacon and cheese, natto and chopped mochi.
- Cook gently so it’s soft on the inside, crunchy, saucy and mayonnaise-y on the outside. You’ll need to flip it at some point. Some people put cheese and stuff on the top and then cover with a lid to encourage melting, so it’s like a pizza. Usually, after you’ve flipped it, you’ll paint on the toppings with a brush and squirt the Kewpie and sprinkle the seaweed and then the katsuoboshi. And a little pop of colour to the top with the red pickled ginger if you have it.
- Eat from the hot plate or serve in wedges.
