How-You-Like-It Savory Pancakes

• servings: Makes 4 pancakes

Ingredients

3 eggs

½ cup water or stock

3/4 cup all-purpose flour or a gluten-free substitute

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

3 cups shredded cabbage

1/4 cup thinly sliced Quick Pickles or anything pickled or fermented in your fridge, like sauerkraut or kimchi (not essential, but really delicious)

1 cup diced or shredded cooked meat or raw or cooked vegetables

Neutral oil, for frying

Mayonnaise, for garnish (ideally an easily squirtable option like Kewpie)

EASY OKONOMIYAKI SAUCE

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or 1-1/2 teaspoons oyster sauce plus 1½ teaspoons rice vinegar

1½ teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar or honey

Traditional okonomiyaki garnishes include katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), nori (roasted seaweed), sesame seeds, thinly sliced scallions, and pickled ginger.

Directions

Lightly beat the eggs and water in a large bowl, then whisk in the flour, salt, and baking powder until smooth. Stir in the cabbage, pickles, and any additional vegetables or meat until everything is coated in the egg mixture.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add a good pour of neutral oil to lightly coat the bottom. Once the oil is shimmering, scoop two large spoonfuls into the pan (roughly a quarter of the mixture each-we like to use a 1-cup measure). Press gently into patties about 5 inches across and 1 inch thick, leaving them puffy rather than dense. Fry until the bottom is set and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Carefully flip both pancakes and cook until the other sides are nicely browned, then transfer to a plate. Repeat, adding more oil if needed before adding the remaining batter.

To make the sauce, whisk together all the ingredients and adjust to taste. Add more Worcestershire or vinegar if you want it tangier, more sugar or honey if you want it sweeter, more soy if it needs salt. This is just a rough recipe; it's up to you to adjust it until you love the taste and want to smear it all over your okonomiyaki.

When you're ready to eat, drizzle on the okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise (if you only have thick mayo, you can mix a spoonful into the okonomiyaki sauce and use it as more of a dip), then top with your garnishes of choice.

Notes

Source: Perfectly Good Food, by Margaret Li and Irene Li

One of Mei's first dates with her husband was at an okonomiyaki restaurant in London, a choose-your-own-adventure meal where you picked all the ingredients in each savory, eggy, cabbage-stuffed pancake. Options included traditional pork belly, squid, bacon and cheese, and even a Christmas special with turkey and Stilton cheese and cranberry sauce on the side, demonstrating that you can put just about anything into these miraculous creations. Its an ideal vehicle to illustrate the Japanese concept of mottainai, an expression of regret that something has been wasted or not used to its full potential, loosely translated to "What a waste!" In fact, the name okonomiyaki proves it is an ultimate Hero Recipe, with okonomi meaning “as you like" or "how you like it" and yaki meaning cooked or grilled in Japanese, so you might as well take it at face value and make it exactly how you want it.