Okonomiyaki are fritter-like pancakes from Japan, made with cabbage and drizzled in a sauce of your choice.  We made these as a quick dinner to use up some cabbage that was in the fridge, reason being that because there was batter, this would take away the taste of cabbage.

You will need for the pancakes:

• 3 large eggs;
• 3 tbsp plain flour (sifted);
• 0.5 tsp dark soy sauce;
• 0.5 tsp salt;
• 0.5 tsp sesame oil;
• 275g shredded white cabbage;
• 2 large spring onions (finely sliced);
• Veg oil (to fry).

You will need for the okonomiyaki sauce:

• 1.5 tbsp tomato ketchup;
• 0.5 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce;
• 2 tsp runny honey;
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce.

Method:

1. Make the sauce first, by whisking together the ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, honey, and soy sauce.  Once you have done this, set it aside.
2. Start with the batter by whisking together the eggs, flour, soy sauce, salt and sesame oil until smooth.
3. Fold in the cabbage and spring onions.  Mix well (and keep mixing even as you are cooking the pancakes, as the batter sometimes settles at the bottom, off the cabbage).
4. Thinly coat the bottom of a frying pan with oil, heat on medium-high. 
5. Line a warmed plate with some paper towels.
6. Spoon a ladle or so of okonomiyaki mixture into the pan and flatten down, so it’s palm-sized.  Fry on each side until it is golden brown.   Put each cooked pancake on the paper towels to drain.
7. You should get around six to eight pancakes.
8. Serve the pancakes drizzled with the sauce.

What did we think?

We were very much into these.  The okonomiyaki were genuinely moreish, and the cabbage did retain a lot of taste… but in a surprisingly good way.  We learned to go easy on the oil as the first two were very greasy, but we worked that out.  If you try these – and I really hope that you do – then remember to keep mixing the batter and cabbage as it does separate in the bowl, which screws up the consistency of pancakes.  The whole process from start to finish took only around fifteen minutes.  As a quick-fix, cupboard-rummaging dinner, we will be making them again, playing with ingredients such as adding cheese and chilli.  Because why the hell not?