Japanese Okonomiyaki Savory Pancake

In our last post we wrote about the wonderful Japanese pancake, the okonomiyaki, that we enjoyed so much on our trip to Tokyo.  These tender and moist savory pancakes are packed with all sorts of delectable seafood or meaty bites, topped with umami packed toppings and zigzagged with all kinds of delicious sauces.  Just one of the best comfort foods you can find!

We wanted to share with you about how to make these totally yummilicious savory pancakes at home.  It's not that hard but does require you to source some Japanese ingredients to get the job done.  But it's so worth it, cuz your homemade Okonomiyaki Savory Pancakes are gonna taste so darn good!

This is the most interesting ingredient for the okonomiyaki pancake, this weird looking stick.  This is actually a tuber known as the Chinese Yam or Mountain Yam and known variously in Chinese as 山藥, 懷山 or 淮山.  The Chinese name translates to 'mountain medicine' as this yam has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to nourish the spleen, lungs and kidney, supporting overall vitality.  The Japanese name for this yam is 'nagaimo', which translates to 'long yam'.

This yam is used for all kinds of food preparations in many food cultures, having a sweet and starchy flavor that absorbs the flavors of whatever it is cooked with.  The texture is soft when cooked, crispy when raw and slimy like okra when grated.  

To prepare the skin of the yam must be peeled off using a vegetable peeler.  When peeling the skin note these two things: 1) the peel can be irritating to the skin so gloves might be in order and 2) the peeled yam is slimy and slippery so handle with a tight, careful grip.

In HK look for this yam at your supermarket and also at all the wet markets.  Remember that they will have different names depending on whether they are grown in China or Japan.  Outside of HK check in the fresh produce sections of your nearby Asian grocer. Or get it online here.

Why is this yam used in this pancake batter?  Well, if you grate the yam and add it to a batter, it acts as a binding agent, making the batter light and fluffy, kinda like how adding whipped egg white would work.  The resultant is a soft and airy texture and a moist tender pancake.

We grated our yam directly into a bowl.  See how slurpy and slimy it looks?  Just perfect!

The grated yam is then mixed with flour, seasonings, baking powder and soup stock.  The soup stock traditionally used is dashi, which is Japanese soup stock made from boiling kelp and bonito flakes, total seafood umami punch!  Dashi is very conveniently available as insta-packets nowadays.  There are two types:  for one you add dashi packet and water to a pot and boil for a few minutes and for the other you just mix dashi powder and hot water.

To this we add the final basic batter ingredient of eggs as well as extra and optional touch of bread crumbs* (to the left in the photo above).  Just give it all a good stir.  Your basic batter is done!  Note that the basic batter can be made ahead of time and kept for up to 3-4 days in the fridge.  Actually keeping it at least overnight makes for better and fluffier pancakes!  

*Note: Traditionally tempura scraps are used but I couldn't find any and so substituted with bread crumbs.  Adding tempera scraps or bread crumbs to the batter helps the pancake retain moisture without becoming dense.

*Tip: Regarding bread crumbs in general, here's a hack for you.  You know how baguettes get stale really quickly, you know, getting hard as a brick within a day or so?  Such a waste of a beautiful bread.  Well, I save those 'brick' baguettes in a ziplock (they keep beautifully) and when I need bread crumbs I saw off some slices and throw them into a food processor, blitz, and there's your breadcrumbs!

Another reason why I really enjoy this pancake so much is that it incorporates so much veggie into the batter!  Like a ton of veggie, specifically the fabulous superfood known as cabbage, low in calories yet packed with vitamins, fiber and antioxidants.

Just get a small head of cabbage and use the whole darn thing.  Rough chop it first, being sure to cut out and discard the core.  Traditionally I think that the cabbage is then just further hand chopped until it's a bit chunky or else fine sliced into thin shreds.

However, being lazy, I like to just blitz my cabbage in my food processor.  Saves a lot of time and effort.  Mind you, once the cabbage is blitzed, you need to squeeze the extra water out, else the batter might get too soggy.  I just grab handfuls and squeeze dry (photo above bottom right).

Right before you're ready to make the pancakes, add in the grated cabbage.  You might want to add the cabbage in in batches as it it quite a lot of cabbage.

Did you know that the Japanese word 'okonomiyaki' translates to 'as you like it grill'?  The 'as you like it' part refers to the fact that you can add almost anything you like to this savory pancake and it will be yummy.  Kinda like how you can add all kinds of additions to a pizza!

We went for a seafood themed okonomiyaki, adding in flash frozen shrimp and precooked frozen octopus cubes to the basic batter and cabbage.  We also are super fond of the traditional addition of thin fatty pork slices, omgosh so good!  Other popular additions include beef, kimchi, all kinds of veggies and cheese. Feel free to experiment!  

Pssst...If you want to experiment with adding veggies, remember to reduce the water content if they are high moisture veggies.

There is, last of all, the toppings.  There are the wet toppings and the dry.  The wet toppings are the okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise.  The okonomiyaki sauce is a brown, thickish, sweet and savory sauce made from fruit and vegetables as well as different seasonings.  Look for this sauce at Japanese groceries, it really defines the unique taste of the okonomiyaki.

The mayonnaise traditionally used is the Japanese mayonnaise 'Kewpie', a very popular brand of rich and tangy mayo with a cult following around the world.  The logo of the kewpie mayo is quite iconic, a winged kewpie baby with arms outstretched in welcome.  You'll want to get the one in the squeeze bottle so that you can swish swash the mayo lines across the pancake.

 

The dry toppings are bonito flakes, 'katsuobushi' and dried green seaweed, 'aonori'.  Bonito flakes are made from skipjack tuna that is simmered, smoked and then fermented.  Completely dried out by this point the fish is then shaved into the thin as a wisp fish shavings known as bonito.  These flakes are incredibly packed with umami flavor.

Aonori is made from a type of green seaweed that is dried into a vibrant green powder that has a slightly salty, oceany umami flavor.  Very distinct!

At last, with everything prepped, it's time to cook some pancakes!  It's kinda hard to flip such a big pancake (usually around 6 inches or so) so you'll want to have two spatulas or one big spatula.  Or else make smaller pancakes.  I made a right mess the first couple of times flipping so I would recommend starting out small until you get the hang of it.

Here are the different methods to adding your chosen additions to the pancake:

First method: If you're adding thin slices of pork or beef, just pour a 6" round of batter (about an inch thick) into a hot pan and then lay the meat slices evenly on top.  Once the bottom is nice and brown, flip pancake over.  Once flipped over the meat is in direct contact with the pan and can get a beautiful sear. 

Second method:  This is the easiest method and good for additions that might roll around.  Mix your additions directly into the batter before pouring a 6" inch round of batter, an inch thick, into a hot pan.  Flip when bottom is browned.  Once the second side is also browned, remove to plate.

Third method:  Another good method for additions that might roll around and the method shown in our photos above.  Pour 6" round of batter, a half inch thickness, into hot pan.  Add chosen additions evenly over.  Add more batter on top, to a total thickness of 1 inch.  Once bottom in browned, flip pancake over.  When second side is browned it's ready.

Once your gorgeous pancakes are done it's time to decorate!  This part is lots of fun so one idea is to allow each diner to decorate his/her own pancake.  The first topping would be the okonomiyaki sauce.  Just squeeze the bottle in a zig zag pattern.

Next add heaps of delicious bonito flakes and a sprinkling of green aonori seaweed powder.  The bonito flakes are so thin that the heat of the pancake will make them dance around!

Final touch, use mayo to do a fancy zig zag over the okonomiyaki.  Tada, your okonomiyaki is ready to devour!  Looks so scrummy and gorgeous, doesn't it?!

Time to nom, nom!  Moist fluffy mouthfuls, a bit eggy, packed with umami bits of bonito flakes and just cooked bites of tasty seafood (or whatever additions you desire.)  So comforting, so darn satisfying, you can't stop stuffing your face with bite after gorgeous bite of okonomiyaki yummiliciousness!  This little snack it something you can dream about!

Pssst:  Check out our Wandering Eats post about eating okonomiyaki in Tokyo!

Tenderly moist, dripping with sauce and bonito, the bits of octopus peeking out...

Japanese Okonomiyaki Savory Pancake

(makes 8 pancakes) (adapted from the recipe here)  

Prep time: 15 mins   Rest time: 2 hrs   Cook time: 

Ingredients:

Batter

• 11 oz Chinese yam (also known as nagaimo or mountain yam)
• 1 1/2 cup dashi soup stock (or use reg. soup stock or water)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (optional)
• 1 head cabbage, around 2 lbs
• 6 oz frozen shrimp, defrosted, 170g
• 6 oz cooked octopus, 170g
• 2 tbsp oil

Toppings

• okonomiyaki sauce
• 2 cups bonito flakes
• 4 tsp anori green seaweed powder
• squeeze bottled mayonnaise, preferably "kewpie" mayo
• 2 tbsp spring onions, chopped to rounds

Directions:

Prepare the yam:  Use gloves if you have sensitive skin.  Peel the skin off the yam with a veggie peeler.  The yam is very slippery once peeled so keep a tight grip.  Grate the yam.  It will grate into a slimy liquid.

Prepare the dashi:  Prepare dashi soup stock according to the package instructions.  Let cool to room temperature.

Prepare the batter:  In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, salt, white pepper and baking powder. Add grated yam.  Add dashi.  Stir to mix.  Add eggs and bread crumbs.  Stir to mix in thoroughly.  Let batter rest for at least a couple of hours and up to overnight (covered and in the fridge.)  This time lets the gluten relax and helps create a more tender and fluffy pancake.  At this point the batter can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Prepare the additions:  Night before making okonomiyaki, defrost any frozen seafood by putting in the fridge overnight.  After removing defrosted seafood from the bag strain water off.  Cut seafood to bite sized pieces if necessary.

Add the cabbage:  On the day you want to make the okonomiyaki, wash the cabbage.  Cut in half, then cut out the hard core and discard.  Chop the cabbage into small bite sized pieces, fine shreds or process in food processor til chopped up.  Size depends on preference.  Squeeze the chopped cabbage to remove excess water.  Add to the batter and stir til just mixed.

Cook the okonomiyaki: Heat up a thick bottomed frying pan* til hot then turn the heat down to low.  Brush a bit of oil on the pan, then pour in enough batter to make a 6 inch round that is 1/2 inch in height.  Add 1/8th of the shrimp and octopus cubes evenly over top.  Scoop another scoop of batter over to cover.  The batter should end up being around 1 inch high.  Let cook, around 4-5 mins, or until the bottom of the pancake is a golden brown.  Using two spatulas or one big one, flip the pancake over.  Cook for another 4-5 mins until the bottom layer is a golden brown.  Remove to serving plate and start the next pancake.

*Note that you can reduce the cooking time by cooking two pancakes at a time.  Just use two pans.

Add the toppings:  Squeeze the okonomiyaki sauce over each cooked pancake in a zig zag pattern.  Add a generous handful of bonito flakes and sprinkle some aonori seaweed over the top.  Zig zag some lines of mayo over everything, sprinkle with spring onion and it's ready to serve.  Enjoy the nom-nom-iness!

Precocious Pancakes at The Hong Kong Cookery:

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Broccoli Vegetable Pizza

Preserved Radish Omelette 菜脯煎蛋