Okonomiyaki (Japanese Vegetable Pancake)

Okonomiyaki is one of my favourite Japanese foods, and since coming home from Japan I have been wanting to make it. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese vegetable pancake, made with cabbage and whatever else you would like to add. Okonomi means “whatever you wish” so it’s OK to make it with whatever ingredients you have and it is still authentic. Okonomiyaki is served with Okonomi sauce and Kewpie Mayonnaise. A mayonnaise substitute was easy, Okonomi was not. Okonomi sauce is like a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce. Searching for a substitute revealed many recipes using a combination of ketchup, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. I couldn’t use any of those but I thought No-Tomato sauce would be a good start; but what to use for soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce? Then along came Magic Sauce from Trish at Failsafe Foodie! I knew it would work, and after playing around with quantities and adding a bit of Rice Malt Syrup for sweetness I had it. I put both the sauce and the mayonnaise in squeezy sauce bottles so we could make the Okonimyaki patterns with them. Hubby thought it was a pretty good substitute for the real thing and Oscar had no hesitation in covering his Okonomiyaki with it.

I used a couple of variations on Trish’s Magic Sauce recipe – cornflour instead of tapioca and I made my own carob syrup. The carob syrup recipe I used is from Cooks.com but I didn’t add any extra sweetener or the vanilla – just carob and water. The okonomiyaki recipe and substitutes I used are from Okonomiyaki World. The recipe below is what I made; you can add any other vegetables or meat to the base mixture, or just have it plain.

I don’t have one of these big Japanese electric grills that my friend Kumi used to make Okinomiyaki for us, but an ordinary fry pan is just fine.

Japanese Home Cooking – Okonomiyaki

Carob Syrup

Print recipe

Serves	250 ml
Prep time	10 minutes
Allergy / Intolerance	Amines, Artificial Addititives, Artificial Colours, Dairy, Egg, Glutamates, Preservatives, Salicylates, Wheat
Suitable for	Dairy / Lactose Free, Gluten Free, RPAH Elimination Diet - Low Chemical / Failsafe
Meal type	Ingredient
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable

Home made carob syrup.

Ingredients

1 cup water
1/2 cup carob powder (sifted)

Directions

1.	In a small saucepan combine the carob powder and 1/4 cup of water to make a smooth paste.
2.	Gradually whisk in the remaining water.
3.	Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 2 - 3 minutes.
4.	Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
5.	Store in a sealed container in the fridge. Shake well before using.

Note

Low Chemical / Failsafe

Failsafe Foodie’s Magic Sauce

Print recipe

Serves	100ml
Prep time	20 minutes
Allergy / Intolerance	Amines, Artificial Addititives, Artificial Colours, Dairy, Egg, Glutamates, Preservatives, Salicylates, Wheat
Suitable for	Dairy / Lactose Free, Gluten Free, RPAH Elimination Diet - Low Chemical / Failsafe
Meal type	Condiment, Ingredient
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Website	Failsafe Foodie

Asian-style sauce that is low in salicylates, amines and glutamates.

Ingredients

1/2 cup golden syrup
1/4 cup gin
2 teaspoons carob syrup (refer to recipe)
1/4 cup syrup from pears in syrup
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon wheaten cornflour or tapioca starch

Directions

1.	Place all the ingredients except one teaspoon of carob syrup and the cornflour into a small saucepan.
2.	Gently bring to the boil, stirring occassionaly.
3.	Simmer until the bubbling looks like froth. Remove from the heat.
4.	Combine the carob syrup and cornflour with enough water to make a paste. Add to the liquid and stir through.
5.	Return to the heat and bring to the boil. Allow to boil until it because frothy again.
6.	Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.

Note

Low Chemical / Failsafe, Gluten -free if using tapioca starch

Click here for the Carob Syrup Recipe.

Okonomi Sauce

Print recipe

Serves	150ml
Prep time	5 minutes
Allergy / Intolerance	Amines, Artificial Addititives, Artificial Colours, Dairy, Egg, Glutamates, Preservatives, Salicylates, Wheat
Suitable for	Amines Challenge, Dairy / Lactose Free, Glutamate Challenge, Gluten Free, RPAH Elimination Diet - Low Chemical / Failsafe, RPAH Elimination Diet - Moderate Chemical, Salicylate Challenge
Meal type	Condiment, Ingredient
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold

Okonomi sauce with no tomato sauce, soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce.

Ingredients

80ml No-Tomato Sauce (Refer to recipe)
60ml Failsafe Foodie's Magic Sauce (Refer to recipe)
2 teaspoons rice malt syrup

Directions

1.	Combine all the ingredients in a blender and whiz until well combined.
2.	Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Note

Failsafe / Low Chemical, Moderate Salicylates

For a low salicylate version of this sauce use the low salicylate version of the No-Tomato Sauce recipe.

Refer here for the recipes for No-Tomato Sauce and Failsafe Foodie's Magic Sauce.

This is my version of Okonomi sauce for Oscar to have with Okonomiyaki, but it could be used anywhere that a BBQ style sauce is required.

Okonomiyaki

Print recipe

Serves	3-4
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	40 minutes
Total time	50 minutes
Allergy / Intolerance	Amines, Artificial Addititives, Artificial Colours, Dairy, Glutamates, Preservatives, Salicylates
Suitable for	Dairy / Lactose Free, RPAH Elimination Diet - Low Chemical / Failsafe
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
Region	Japanese

Home made Okonomiyaki.

Ingredients

Rice bran oil (for cooking)

Basic Batter:

1/2 cup white rice flour
1 1/2 cup plain white flour
1 1/2 cup water or home made stock
3 eggs
5 cups cabbage (thinly slice strips 3cm long)
3 spring onions (thinly sliced on the diagonal)
1/2 cup rice crumbs

What you wish: (Optional)

2 cooked failsafe sauges (thinly sliced on the diagonal)

To serve:

Mayonnaise (Refer to recipe)
Okonomi sauce (Refer to recipe)

Directions

1.	Sift together the plain flour and rice flour into a large bowl.
2.	Add the water or stock and whisk until smooth.
3.	Add the eggs, cabbage, spring onions, rice crumbs and sausage and mix until just combined. (If you're not cooking straight away, cover the bowl with cling wrap and store in the fridge until ready.)
4.	Pour a bit of the rice bran oil into a hot frying pan and cover the surface with oil.
5.	Add two ladles full of Okonmiyaki batter to the frying pan and flatten each to 1.5cm thick. Push the batter around the edges to get a roundish shape, about 8 - 10cm in diameter.
6.	After 3 minutes, flip the okonomiyaki over and cook for another 4 minutes.
7.	Flip them over again and cook for another 3 minutes until firm and well browned.
8.	Remove from the frying pan and serve drizzled with mayonnaise and okonomi sauce.
9.	If you want to serve all the okonmiyaki at once pre-heat the oven to 100°C. Place each of the cooked Okonomiyaki into a baking tray and place in the oven covered in foil. Keep adding Okonomiyaki until they are all cooked.

Note

Low Chemical / Failsafe

Okonomi means "what you wish" so feel free to add any other finely sliced meats or vegetable to the basic mixture.

Home made bread crumbs can also be used instead of rice crumbs.

Potato starch can be used instead of rice flour. The purpose of the rice flour/potato starch is to create a "sticky" batter.

Refer here for recipes referred to above:

Coming Up Next Time: Carob Syrup Cake

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Okonomiyaki (Japanese Vegetable Pancake)

Carob Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Note

Failsafe Foodie’s Magic Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Note

Okonomi Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Note

Okonomiyaki