Friday, February 04, 2022

A tiny joy

 Sometimes having something you cook turn out well is a joy.

I often make a version of something called okonomiyaki - a Japanese-style savory pancake. I guess you can make them with any kind of shredded vegetable you want but I always get the "angel hair" coleslaw (which is just green cabbage, shredded up fine - you can, of course, shred your own, but that's a lot more time consuming and I don't have any "fancy" gear for that, so I'd have to use a knife and a lot of time. It's easier to buy the pre-shredded).

it's four eggs, beaten with a tablespoon of soy sauce (I use coconut aminos - no soy and less sodium) and about 1/2 tsp (or a little more) of powdered ginger. Then you add 3/4 cup of flour and a couple of cut up scallions and add four cups of the shredded cabbage. Then you fry it in a pan, about 4-5 minutes on a side over just slightly hotter than medium heat.

The sauces you serve with it are a mix of mayonnaise and sriracha sauce (I use less sriracha than recommended because I don't like things too spicy) and a second sauce that's ketchup with more of the coconut aminos and also worcestershire sauce.

Usually it makes two servings, or you could eke it into four if you served something else with it (or just double batch it). For me, I eat half at one meal and have half leftover.

One of the problems with it - sometimes it sticks, or sometimes the "pancake" breaks as you turn it. I THINK it's less likely when I use a bit more oil, and also when I measure the cabbage rather than just dumping in what looks like the "right" amount - I did both those tonight and got a perfect one:


It's more annoying to me when it sticks/burns than when it breaks - I can work with the pieces but it's hard to get the second side to cook right when the "skin" sticks to the pan. (I really think using more oil is the secret here). 

So that was my dinner tonight. I figure it's fairly nutritious as it's mostly cabbage and eggs.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This looks good. I’m going to try it. — Grace

Anonymous said...

I love okonomiyaki. An American classmate introduced me to it in Osaka years ago. You might also try shabu-shabu (Japanese hotpot) and Yakiniku (style of Korean barbecue, grilled at the table).