Seafood Okonomi-yaki 海鮮お好み焼き

Although, as we mentioned in a previous blog, we had it several times in Japan and were not impressed, we are re-discovering “Okonomi-yaki お好み焼き” the Japanese style savory pancake. We are finding we like the ones we are making much better than the ones we had in Japan. “Okonomi” means “as you like” or “whatever you like”. “Yaki” means grill/fry. So the literal translation of Okonomi-yaki means “whatever you like fry”. As you would expect, given its name, this pancake is made with whatever you prefer or have on hand which is then added to the traditional cabbage and batter base. Since we had shredded Japanese cabbage (from Suzuki Farm), we decided to finish up the cabbage by making a okonomi-yaki for lunch one day. We decided to go with seafood as the protein topping. We had frozen shrimp and frozen bay scallops. This turned out to be really great okonomi-yaki. Both the shrimp and scallops were not over cooked and all the toppings including bonito flakes worked. We shared one okonomi-yaki between the two of us and it was quite a filling lunch.

Ingredients: (makes one 8 inch pancake)
For batter
56g “Otafuku” okonomi-yaki flour (or you can just use cake flour)
92g water
1 egg

150g shredded cabbage
3 scallions, finely chopped
Tenkasu tempura bits
1/2 tbs vegetable oil (for cooking)

For seafood (#1 in the composite picture)
3 medium shrimp, shelled and halved and cut into small portions
12 bay scallops

For toppings
Mayonnaise
Okonomi-yaki sauce (I used a mixture of regular and spicy sauces)
Julienned ginger in sweet vinegar or “Kizami ginger 刻み生姜”
Dried “aonori 青海苔” laver
Kezuribushi 削り節 bonito shavings

Directions:
Mix the flour, water, and egg, add the cabbage and scallion and mix. Add the seafood (I cut the shrimp into small chunks except for two halves which I placed on the top (#2). Add the oil to the frying pan on medium-low flame (400F using laser thermometer). Add the batter mixture into the frying pan and press into 2cm thick round. Top it with the tempura bits (#2). Cook for 4 minutes. Flip it (#3). Place on the lid and cook for 4 minutes (later we tried with the lid or without and decided no need for the lid). Remove the lid and flip again (#4). Some of the tempura bits get browned. Cook without lid for another 2 minutes.

Smear the surface with the mayo (I added small amount of sugar and rice vinegar to emulate the traditional Japanese Kwepie mayo used) and sauce (#5). Scatter the ginger and aonori (#6). Finally add the bonito flakes (the first serving picture).

We are really liking these okonomi-yaki. Although we never made one with American style cabbage, the Asian style cabbage we used is much more tender. So, we think it is probably closer to the cabbage traditionally used and probably works better than the American cabbage. The pancake is tender and with all the ingredients has a good range of flavors. The shrimp and scallops in this version added a tender slight sweetness. The toppings, especially the ginger and mixture of spicy and regular okonomi-yaki sauce are a must have.