After my last attempt to find good okonomiyaki ended in another disappointment, I started thinking how hard could it be to make my own? Having tasted it multiple times I knew it was no more than eggs, water, and some flour for the batter. Toss in some sliced cabbage and seafood, voila! Now I just needed to get the ratio right.
For that I searched the internet and used the simplest recipe. I was mostly right about the contents of the batter, but the recipe called for dashi if on hand. Luckily my friendly local korean super market carried the little flavor pellets to make instant dashi.
I decided to thinly slice the cabbage instead of using a shredder to give it more texture. The results were better than any okonomiyaki I've had, even in New York. The batter was just right, not too thick with ample amounts of cabbage. That's one of my pet peeves when ordering okonomiyaki, when they skimp on the cabbage.
Cleaning the squid was the hardest part since neither of us had a clue on how to do it. This video though gave exact instructions. I still however deferred the task.
We also added in some fake crab meat since we forgot to pick up some shrimp.
After frying up all the toppings I covered the toppings with the cabbage laden batter to form a circle. Cooking each side of the pancake about 5 minutes. Top with bonito flakes, dried seaweed flakes and drizzled with quipie mayo and tonkatsu sauce our first okonomiyaki was more delicious than any we've had in the states. And it was so easy to make! This is the recipe I followed, you can practically use any topping you want but I prefer seafood.
