Okonomiyaki

The sound of a sizzling Japanese Pancake with its accompanying aroma of unique sauces is enough to tempt any Japanese palate. In some parts of Japan, Japanese Pancakes appear on the dining table on a weekly basis and can be served as lunch or dinner.

Japanese Pancakes, or Okonomiyaki, are savoury pancakes with a variety of fresh toppings ranging from sweet corn, beef strips to king prawn. The word Okonomiyaki means 'cook as you like' which also explains the accommodating nature of these pancakes: just choose your favourite toppings and indulge yourself in your personalised pancake, Japanese-style.

Ingredients

Apart from the usual ingredients such as flour and egg, the pancake dough also uses puréed mountain potato. This special ingredient keeps the dough light and crispy. Shredded cabbage as well as other ingredients is then added to the dough before being spread onto the teppan. Before being served hot off the grill, mouth-watering sauces are spread on top of the pancake ready to host the finale of dramatic "dancing" fish flakes.

With plenty of vegetables and a variety of toppings, Japanese Pancakes make a complete nutritious meal. While they are quite filling, the use of cabbage keeps the calorie surprisingly low.

3 Types of Pancakes

At Japanese Pancake World, we serve 3 types of Japanese Pancakes.

Osaka-style

This is the most commonly served Japanese Pancake. Pancake sauce and mayonnaise accompany the pancakes, giving them a full-bodied flavour.

Hiroshima-style

Characterised by its thin crêpe-like dough and lots of shredded cabbage and sprouts, the Hiroshima-style pancake, unlike the Osaka-style pancake, has multiple layers of toppings. Cabbage and other ingredients are piled up on top of crispy wafer thin pancake. Add a layer of fried noodles on top of this tower and place a fried egg atop the mountain. Spread the sauce with a brush and garnish it with dried parsley-like seaweed flakes.

Negi-yaki (Scallion Pancake)

Unlike the two variations above, Negi-yaki does not contain cabbage. Instead a generous portion of scallions is woven in the pancake dough.

 

* All three types of Japanese Pancakes can be prepared to suit our vegetarian guests.