Published: · Modified: · By Amber · 21 Comments
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Savoury and satisfying, okonomiyaki or Japanese pancakes are a simple, frugal meal with just a few ingredients.
Frugal can still be fabulous, as I'm showing you this week.
Okonomiyaki are Japanese savoury pancakes, sometimes referred to as Japanese pizza. The name comes from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked".
Traditionally they might include a combination of prawns, octopus, squid, chicken, pork, noodles, cheese or vegetables.
The one constant is cabbage, and a bunch of awesome toppings including katsuobushi (bonito flakes) which dance in the hot steam. I use crispy shallots instead for a veg alternative.
Scale it right back to basics and you have a dense savoury pancake with cabbage as its main ingredient. That might sound a bit weird, but once the other toppings are added it's some kind of savoury heaven in your mouth.
You can buy actual okonomiyaki sauce if you like, but it's just as good with other less traditional things you might have on hand.
Regular bbq sauce is great, tomato sauce mixed with soy sauce, Indonesian kecap manis (so untraditional, but so delicious with these) and obviously sriracha which is great with almost anything.
Top that with a swirl of Japanese kewpie mayonnaise, some shredded nori, spring onions, crispy shallots and you have a serious case of yum.
And I mentioned this was frugal? Check it out, a filling and delicious meal from a hunk of cabbage, a spring onion, an egg and a bit of flour and water. Who'd have thought?
The basic quantities in this recipe are for one pancake, just multiply them if you're cooking for more people.
I'd recommend mixing each pancake individually just before it goes into the frypan, otherwise you'll end up with dry cabbage on top and heaps of batter at the bottom of your bowl.
I suspect this could easily be made gluten free by using a different flour, as the batter is really only there to glue everything together and doesn't need to rise. I haven't experimented with this though so let me know if you do.
Go to town customising this to suit yourself, that's the whole idea.
Get the recipe
Basic okonomiyaki
Savoury and satisfying, these Japanese pancakes are a simple, frugal meal with just a few ingredients.
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Prep time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes minutes
Total time: 20 minutes minutes
Course: Main meals
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Servings: 1
Calories:
Author: Quite Good Food
INGREDIENTS
- ⅛ cabbage or two good handfuls finely sliced
- 1 spring onion white part thinly sliced (reserve the green part for garnish)
- 1 free range egg
- ½ teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ cup flour
- ½ cup water
- Oil for frying
To serve, your choice of:
- BBQ sauce
- Kewpie mayonnaise
- Sriracha
- Kecap manis
- Spring onion greens finely sliced
- Crispy shallots
- Nori finely sliced/shredded
INSTRUCTIONS
Put cabbage, spring onion, egg, soy sauce, flour and water in a bowl and mix well to combine.
Heat a frypan over a low to medium heat and add a splash of oil for frying.
Tip the okonomiyaki mixture into the pan and use a spatula to form it into a round pancake about 2cm thick. Take your time cooking it - it's thick and you don't want raw mixture in the middle. When golden brown on the bottom, carefully flip and cook the other side until golden too. It's not essential, but I find it helpful to put a lid on the frypan for some of the cooking time to help it cook through.
Remove from the pan and serve immediately, or keep warm in a low oven while you cook more pancakes.
Top with your choice of condiments, slice into wedges and enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Mention @quitegoodfood or tag #quitegoodfood!
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Stephani Gutierrez
We had Japanese friends stay with us and they made this authentic dish and we had been craving it ever since- so glad we found this recipe! We now make this regularly and it’s always wonderful. We add in shrimp sometimes, or bacon, it’s very forgiving and love it’s versatility. Thank you!Reply
Dirk Weber
Which type of cup is this? What is it in metric system?Reply
Amber
Hi Dirk, this recipe uses a metric cup.
Reply
Maree
Awesome recipe. Whole family loved it and it was the perfect thing for an easy, quick meal that still had veggies!Reply
Amber
Hooray, glad it was a family hit!! 🙂
Reply
sawley andrew
when you use the print function the cabbage quantity does not change as you have written 1/8 of a cabbage.
Reply
Amber
Good spotting thanks, I've updated the recipe.
Reply
Roses
This is a very delicious dish. I really like Asian food. Thank you for sharing the recipe!Reply
Kaytlin Andersen
I was skeptical while putting all these flavours together in the bowl but they turned out so well! My BF gave me a big high five. SO good. Will be making again for sure. thank you!Reply
Amber
Fantastic Kaytlin, I'm so pleased you enjoyed them 🙂
Reply
Jennifer
Love this. I also like to add some ginger, garlic and sesame oil to the batter.
Reply
Michael
I really like okonomiyaki. I like to eat hot and add more chili. great. Yesterday, I tried following your recipe and now, I come back to comment. So delicious, I don't think I can make it that good.
Thanks Amber for sharing the recipe!Reply
Jade
This recipe desperately needs more salt. Other than that, it's just a basic recipe, which would greatly benefit from some jazzing up with other ingredients, like prawns.
Reply
Amber
Hi Jade, yes this is a basic okonomiyaki recipe - that's the idea. You can jazz it up by adding any other ingredients you like 🙂
Reply
Sofia Gonzalez
I tried a gluten-free version of this with Dove's Farm GF self-raising flour and tamari instead of soy sauce. It had a good consistency and cooked thoroughly. I also made my own okonomiyaki sauce with GF oyster sauce, ketchup and honey. This is a very simple dish to make GF and virtually has no issues in swapping ingredients.
Reply
Amber
That's great to hear, thanks Sofia 🙂
Reply
Calvin Bates
This is a very good simple way of making an amazing dish.
Also, you can make your own Okonomiyaki sauce using ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar or honey.
Reply
angel fabs
Hi Calvin! Can you please share your recipe of you DIY Okonomiyaki sauce? Thanks so much!
Reply
Sharon
I tried this recipe and the result was perfection.
I have tried many okonomiyaki recipes and this one is the very, best.
Comment worthy. Great tips as well. 10/10Reply
Chika Gujarathi
Love this recipe!! I need more asian dishes in my arsenal and this is worth trying and keeping.
Reply
Venka
Tried this tonight, added some ingredients: chicken and pork. It was easy and enjoyed by the family. Easy to follow instructions. Thank you ??
Reply
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