Okkon's Okonomiyaki

20 minutes prep 15 minutes active cooking 35 minutes total

Makes 5 servings

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Chef Satoshi Kamimae learned to cook by watching his mom prepare family meals at their home in Osaka.

When he moved to California in his 20’s, he worked in kitchens all over the Bay Area before meeting & marrying Sachi, another Japanese expat. They quit their jobs to launch Okkon, making okonomiyaki inspired by Satoshi’s mom’s recipe and using organic flour and farm-direct produce.

Okonomiyaki, a kind of savory pancake, is found at street food stalls and bars throughout Japan, but it’s especially popular in Osaka. At its most essential, okonomiyaki is a batter of wheat flour tossed with shredded cabbage which is then grilled on a flat top or in a pan. After that, the sky’s the limit when it comes to mix-ins and toppings (afterall, “okonomiyaki” translates to essentially “whatever you like, grilled”), but common choices are pork belly, seafood, and fried eggs; the finished okonomiyaki is dressed with Bulldog Sauce, Kewpie mayonnaise, green onion, and bonito flakes that shimmer in the residual heat of the dish. Feel free to add seasonal veggies, mochi, cheese, or whatever else you like… the genius of okonomiyaki is its total flexibility.

What You'll Need

Ingredients

For the shopping list

200g organic whole wheat flour
25g potato starch
100g grated yamaimo
(sub mochiko flour)
150ml homemade dashi
(Making dashi from scratch is easy and there’s a recipe on Serious Eats, but instant dashi is fine, too.)
5ml soy sauce
5ml sake
400g cabbage, shredded
100g green onion, chopped
10 slices Pork Belly
(sub think bacon)
Okonomiyaki sauce, to serve
(Okkon makes their own from scratch but we use Bull-dog sauce)
Katsubushi (bonito flake), to serve
Aonori (seaweed), to serve
Beni shouga (ginger pickle), to serve

From our shop

5 Eggs - Farm Fresh
$8.50– Cloverdale - Oregon

1ml Italian Fine Sea Salt
$7.00– Trapani - Sicily

Out of stock

For cooking, Antheo D.O.P.
$32.00– Sicily - Italy

Okkon doesn't use oil but we find it helps keep the okonomiyaki from sticking to the pan

to serve Mayo
$11.00– Japan

Okkon makes their own mayo from scratch but we use Kewpie

Equipment

From the kitchen

Radish Grater or the smallest hole on a box grater (only if using the yamaimo)
Scale
Large mixing bowl
Large mixing spoon
Griddle or large non-stick or well-seasoned cast iron pan
Wide spatula (a classic fish spatula works great)

What you'll have to do

Step 1 — Add the 200g flour, 25g potato starch, 100g grated yam, 150ml dashi, 5 eggs, 5ml soy sauce, 5ml sake, and 1ml salt to a bowl and mix until well combined.

Step 2 — Mix in the shredded cabbage and chopped green onions.

Step 3 — Heat some oil in a griddle or large cast iron on medium heat until it shimmers. Spoon in the batter then using a spatula, evenly spread it out. Add enough batter to make an oblong shape long enough for the pork belly to go on top.

Step 4 — Place a few pieces of pork belly on top of the batter. Once the bottom is nicely browned, carefully flip the okonomiyaki and cook until the pork belly is a little crisp.

Step 5 — Top with mayo and okonomiyaki sauce. Sprinkle on some bonito flakes, seaweed and pickled ginger. Enjoy!