Recently, we got together with some good friends, who had recently visited Japan. They mentioned that they really liked okonomi-yaki. The wife is a vegetarian and, apparently, she had vegetarian okonomi-yaki in Japan and really liked it. When they got back home they tried to recreate their enjoyable Japanese experience. Her husband called around to various Japanese restaurants in the area and while okonomi-yaki was on the menu of several of them none of them offered “vegetarian” okonomi-yaki. They were extremely disappointed. Seeing how disappointed they were, my wife suggested that even though we were not particularly wild about the okonomi-yaki we had in Japan, maybe, given our access to Japanese ingredients and our experience in using those ingredients, we could make a vegetarian okonomi-yaki for our friends. Since we have never made one before, we had to study and experiment with this a bit.
We learned that there are two basic styles; Osaka and Hiroshima-styles. In both, two essential ingredients are a batter made of dashi broth and flour and shredded cabbage. In the Osaka style, the ingredients are mixed into the batter and cooked like a pancake. Hiroshima-style makes a thin pancake and layers it with the cabbage, noodles, and fried eggs. To make this at home, Osaka-style is easier, so that’s what we decided to make.
In terms of getting the sauce and premixed flour for okonomi-yaki, “Otafuku” U.S. web site is the best place. The “Otafuku” Japanese web site has instructions (in Japanese) and videos on how to make either Hiroshima or Osaka-style okonomi-yaki at home. It appears most of the items such as vegetarian sauces, and tempura bits are available from the US Otafuku site. We got their okonomi-yaki kit (which included a vegetarian “Otafuku” pre-mixed flour and two vegetarian sauces; one the traditional sauce and one a spicy sauce) as well as a bag of vegetarian tempura bits. (Traditionally the tempura bits have dried squid or shrimp in them so it required some effort of make sure the tempura bits I got were vegetarian.)
As a test, we first made an okonomi-yaki in the non-vegetarian traditional style with thin strips of pork belly. Although the “Otafuku” pre-mixed flour I bought was vegetarian this was the first okonomi-yaki I ever made and I wanted to see how something made with the correct mixture of ingredients would turn out. The resulting okonomi-yaki was pretty good. So, I got adventurous and decided to make a vegetarian version from scratch using a recipe I found on the internet. I made the pancake batter with cake flour, grated nagaimo 長芋 (Japanese mountain yam) and homemade vegetarian broth. We topped this with mayo, spicy “otafuku” sauce, “aonori” 青のり dried laver, and “kizami shoga 刻み生姜” julienned pickled ginger. The “spicy” sauce was not too spicy but gradually the heat creeps up on you. Although, the pancake we made was the size usually served to one person, we divided the pancake between the two of us and it was more than enough. This was quite a decent okomomi-yaki. (Infinately better than the one we remembered). The difference between using the “Otafuku” pre-mixed flour vs homemade vegetarian batter was subtle but the homemade one was a bit more moist maybe due to the grated “nagaimo”.
Ingredients (makes one 7-8 inch pancake)
50 grams cake flour
40 grams vegetarian broth*
1 egg
40 grams grated Nagaimo 長芋
100 grams shredded cabbage (I basically eyeballed the amount)
4-5 fresh shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced
Abura-age 油揚げ, half (optional, I used it to suggest the flavor of pork meat in a vegetarian version)
finely chopped scallions (3-4 tbs but the amount is arbitrary)
1 tbs vegetable oil
Tenkasu 天かす tempura bits (3-4 tbs but the amount is arbitrary)
Topping
Mayonnaise (the authentic Japanese mayo is Kewpie)
Okonomi-yaki sauce (I used the ones I got from Otafuku; one regular and the other spicy, both are vegetarian)
Julienned ginger in sweet vinegar (Kizami-shouga 刻み生姜), store bought
Dried “Aomori 青のり” laver
* I made this from kelp and dried shiitake mushrooms. Add dried kelp (3x2inch) and 3-4 small dried shiitake mushrooms to cold water and let hydrate for 30 minutes. Then place the pot on a low flame. When it starts boiling, turn off the heat and let it steep for 1-2 hours until the broth cools to room temperature. Remove the kelp and shiitake mushrooms.
Directions:
Mix the flour, broth, and egg to make a batter, add the cabbage and mushroom and cook in an 8 inch non-stick flying pan with vegetable oil on medium low flame, Top with the tempura bits and, (if using) place the fried tofu on the top (#1 in the composite picture) and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes. and then flip the pancake (#2). Place the lid on the pan and continue cooking for 3 more minutes then flip it again (#3). Let it cook for 3 more minutes with the lid off .
Smear on the mayo, scatter the ginger (#4). Smear on the sauces and sprinkle on the aonori. Serve hot (the first picture).
The two versions of okonomi-yaki we made (the non-vegetarian version is the subject for a separate post) were much better than what we remembered. The pickled ginger and a combination of the traditional and spicy sauce are a “must have” really making the entire enterprise.
