Okonomiyaki

Phoebe Thorburn -

These are flippin' incredible!! I cannot urge you enough to try them - they taste so flippin' good it's scary. Just, if not better than the real thing, all your pals will be going 'how the heck is this vegan', and you'll be nodding along in agreement. The vegan egg really shines here, I cannot encourage you enough to give this recipe a try if you stumble across/have access to the product. I learnt to make okonomiyaki through a bad-ass Japanese teacher I had in year nine. She did the whole putting soba noodles on the pancake and heck does it take these to another level. Super crunchy and textually on point! Enjoy, enjoy, ENJOY!!!

Ingredients

  • 2 vegan eggs (prepared according to packet instructions)
  • 8 tbsp plant mylk
  • 1/2 cup plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • salt & pepper
  • 1/2 bunch spring onions
  • 2 carrots
  • 1/4 medium green cabbage
  • 1/2 red capsicum
  • olive oil
  • 180g soba noodles (or two bundles)
  • vegan mayo
  • okonomiyaki sauce (from Asian and specialist supermarkets)

Method

  1. Take a large bowl and make the batter by adding the egg and half the plant milk and whisking until combined. Then the flour, baking powder and seasonings, then the remainder of the plant milk. Whisk until smooth and runny.
  2. In a food processor (or you can use a mandoline, or just do it by hand) finely slice/grate the onions, carrots, cabbage and capsicum using the appropriate attachment.
  3. Take large handfuls of the grated vegetables and squeeze out excess water over the sink before adding to the batter mixture. Repeat until all the veg is squeezed and added to the bowl. Don't worry if some moisture from the veggies carries over into the batter.
  4. Switch to a spatula and thoroughly combine the veggies in the "eggy" mixture.
  5. Cook the soba noodles according to packet directions and drain with hot water thoroughly before setting aside.
  6. Heat a super non-stick pot/pan over high heat, adding enough oil to moderately cover the base of it. Once you can begin to smell the oil (but not smoking), add about a 1/5 of the batter, or enough to form a large pancake that is about 3/4 of an inch high. Take some noodles and add to the top of the pancake.
  7. Cover the pan and cook for 5+ minutes. Carefully flip and cover, cooking for another 5+ minutes. You may need to add more oil. Serve with the okonomiyaki sauce and vegan mayo. Dig in!!