I’m pretty sure the first time I tried okonomiyaki was in Japan. A friend from Osaka took me to a restaurant to try her hometown’s famous cabbage pancake. l’m pretty sure I didn’t like it.
Since then, I’ve had a change of heart about okonomiyaki, and tried to make up for the blunder.
An umami bomb that gets its oomph from a collision of textures and flavors, the classic Osaka-style pancake is covered with a layer of pork belly, fried until crispy but still a bit soft at the middle, then topped with squiggles of Kewpie mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce; a confetti of bonito and nori flakes, a scattering of pickled red ginger.
What a magnificent mess.
Strewn over a hot pancake, the wisps of dehydrated fish wiggle as they come into contact with moisture and steam. It’s a quirky sight. Then when you snarf into a custardy wedge, with the almost melted cabbage, you experience a taste-bud rush, with just the right amount of sweet, salty, oily, acidic and fishy notes. It’s a great beer-drinking bite.
Credit: Wendell Brock
Credit: Wendell Brock
After tasting Atlanta pop-up star Corban Irby’s crazy-good version, and hearing how he fell in love with Japan as a student, I decided it was time to try okonomiyaki at home.
Irby, who is in the middle of turning his OK Yaki pop-up into an East Atlanta brick-and-mortar, was reluctant to give me his recipe. I don’t blame him: He’s spent a decade perfecting his okonomiyaki cookery. He did offer to accompany me on a mission to Buford Highway Farmers Market — to discuss ingredients and share his considerable insight. (Gotta say the man knows his way around the Japan aisle.)
Credit: Wendell Brock
Credit: Wendell Brock
At the same time, I noticed Atlanta restaurateur Takashi Otsuka, a Saitama native who recently opened Wagaya Groceries in Midtown, had posted an okonomiyaki lesson on video. Otsuka, who also owns Wagaya and Chirori restaurants, kindly agreed to show me how he makes the dish, in person. Using information I gleaned from these two pros, plus my own research and experimentation in the kitchen, I came up with three recipes: Classic Okokomiyaki with Pork Belly, Vegetarian Okonomiyaki, and Okonomiyaki with Shrimp.
Before you flip your pancake, keep in mind that okonomiyaki means “how you want it.” While cabbage is essential, you can add just about any kind of protein you desire (shrimp, squid, shredded chicken, Chinese sausage, ham). Or use leftover bits of this and that. In Hiroshima, they put noodles in the batter. You know I’ll be trying that next.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Chinese cabbage: Make an effort to find it. (The head is flatter than regular cabbage.) It’s also sweeter and more delicate than ordinary cabbage, and easier to cut. The importance of thinly sliced cabbage became clear to me during my okonomiyaki tutorial with Otsuka. He tossed out his first batch of batter, saying the cabbage was too bulky. You need wispy sheds — never chunks! — so that you can make a flat pancake that binds together.
When Irby asked me how I was going to slice the cabbage, I told him, “with a knife.” He didn’t seem too confident and pointed me to a little Korean-made veggie slicer at the Buford market that looks like an ultra-wide potato peeler. At $4, the gadget was money well spent.
Credit: Wendell Brock
Credit: Wendell Brock
Flour: Don’t hesitate to use an okonomiyaki mix such as Otafuku brand, especially if this is your first time at the okonomiyaki rodeo. You won’t need salt and leavening agents, and you’ll get the traditional Japanese flavor and texture. If you are making the pancake from scratch, all-purpose flour works fine. That said, Irby suggests low-gluten flour, in particular Chinese cake flour. He turned me on to Gong He brand Chinese cake flour (in an orange and white package; available at the Buford Highway market), and it tasted much better than all-purpose White Lily flour. I did not add baking powder or soda. Doing so will create a pouffier pancake. Adding salt and salty ingredients (like the pickled ginger) will pull the water out of the cabbage. Do that last.
Yam: It’s worth the effort to find Chinese yam (sometimes called nagaimo or Japanese mountain yam and available at farmers markets and Asian supermarkets, including Wagaya Groceries) because it provides the essential texture of real-deal Japanese okonomiyaki. Peel the yam, and grate it on a box grater. As you grate, it will disintegrate into a white goo. That’s what you want! Measure it in tablespoons. Once cooked, the yam imparts a slightly gummy texture that is the sign of a classic okonomiyaki. If you can’t find the yam, don’t sweat it. It’s OK to omit.
Credit: Wendell Brock
Credit: Wendell Brock
Pork belly: Look for thinly sliced pork belly, available in some Asian markets. It will stick to the pancake better than grocery store bacon. Though you can use American-style bacon (and many restaurants do), “I don’t think it tastes good at all," Irby says.
Sauces and garnish: Traditional okonomiyaki can be a festival of store-bought items, including Kewpie mayo and okonomiyaki sauce. You can use other brands of mayo, but Kewpie is rich and creamy. You can concoct your own okonomiyaki sauce, but according to Irby, “70% of restaurants in Japan” use the bottled stuff; Okonomi brand is iconic.
If you are vegetarian or vegan: Keep in mind that dashi (often used in place of water to make the batter) is made with fish, and thus not vegetarian. Obviously, neither are bonito flakes. Also, Worcestershire sauce (made with anchovies) and oyster sauce are commonly used in bottled okonomiyaki sauce. You can find plenty of vegan and vegetarian sauce recipes online. — Wendell Brock
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
RECIPES
Here are three versions of the Japanese cabbage pancake known as okonomiyaki — a great one-dish meal to make and share with friends.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Classic Okonomiyaki with Pork Belly
This recipe was developed with guidance from Takashi Otsuka (owner of Wagaya, Chirori and Wagaya Groceries) and Corban Irby, owner of the OK Yaki popup and forthcoming restaurant.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Vegetarian Okonomiyaki
We garnished this veggie-packed pancake with a fried egg and some blistered peppers, but it’s good without the extra touches.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Okonomiyaki with Shrimp
This recipe for small, easily manageable pancakes is inspired by one in “The Dinner Plan” by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion (Abrams, $29.99). The original calls for 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup of cornstarch, which I tried and liked, though I found Chinese cake flour to yield a less gummy pancake. (See What You’ll Need section.) Make these any size you want. Feel free to add additional garnishes and condiments of choice such as okonomiyaki sauce, bonito and nori flakes and Japanese pickled ginger.
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