Okonomiyaki Japanese Savoury Pancakes

Our local Japanese restaurant has okonomiyaki or Japanese pancakes on the menu. We have been curious about them but can never quite go past the sushi and order one so I looked up how to make them at home. They were delicious and my husband told me to add them to the favourites list which is the ultimate compliment in our house!

 

 

I thought the kids might like them too as long as I let them choose their own vegetable combinations, and it turned out they were a hit! I chopped all the ingredients and layed them out in plastic bowls on the bench where everyone could choose their own. I then poured the batter over each individual bowl of vegetables and cooked up each pancake in a frypan (I had a few frypans on the go to speed things up). One of my daughters picked her ingredients and just wanted to eat them not in a pancake so I just fried up a bit of the pork for her.

 

You can buy okonomi sauce at Asian supermarkets. There a lots of recipes on the web trying to imitate it, apparently none of them quite match it, but I enjoyed the version I made although it was a bit runny. My version had quite a few Japanese ingredients that I generally have in the cupboard. If you don't, just google a simpler version based on ketchup, soy and worcestershire.

 

I looked at lots of recipes but based mine on this SBS recipe, I didn't bother with the crispy noodle cakes this time but did include the instructions below. There are several websites devoted entirely to Okonomiyaki recipes, such as this one.

 

Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancakes)

serves 4

Okonomi literally means "what you like" so feel free to add whatever fillings and toppings you like.

 

vegetable oil                                                                    

225 g (1 1/2 C) plain flour

3 eggs

2 tsp instant dashi powder

225 ml water                                                                    

220 g cabbage, finely sliced

8 spring onions, finely sliced, plus extra to serve

1 carrot, coarsely grated or sliced julienne

2 tbsp red pickled ginger

½ cup tempura batter bits (tenkasu) (optional)

8 peeled green prawns

150 g pork belly, thinly sliced (it is much easier to slice if you half freeze it)

Variations: cooked octopus, chinese sausage

Sauce

60 ml tomato sauce/ketchup

2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp cooking sake

1 tbsp mirin

1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar or honey 

2 tbsp Japanese rice vinegar

2 1/2 tbsp worcestershire sauce                                                                        

1/2 tsp grated ginger (optional)

Toppings

Japanese (Kewpie) mayo

Bonito flakes (katsuobushi)

Nori (seaweed), finely chopped

Spring onions, finely chopped

Pickled ginger

Noodle cake (optional)

200 g cooked yaki soba noodles (thin, yellow egg noodles) 

 

In a large bowl combine the flour, eggs, dashi powder and water and whisk just until smooth. The batter should be thin but not watery.

 

Combine the cabbage, spring onions, carrot and pickled ginger. Season to taste, add the batter and mix until well combined. If you are making these for picky eaters you can make up individual bowls of vegetables to each persons taste and divide the batter between them.

 

Heat two large non-stick frying pans over medium-high heat, add a small amount of oil. Add a quarter of the cabbage mixture to each frying pans. Shape into rounds then, using a spatula, flatten each round, pushing any escaping mixture back against the edges. Cook for 4 minutes. Put two prawns on each pancakes and push gently into batter. Cover the prawns with the pork belly. Carefully flip the pancakes over and cook for 3 minutes. Flip the pancake again, reduce the heat to medium and cook for a further 3–4 minutes until cooked through to the centre.

 

Cover generously with okonomiyaki sauce and Japanese mayonaisse. Top with noodle cake if using, then nori, extra spring onions and pickled ginger.

 

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce with 2 tbsp of water and bring to a boil, let it simmer for about 10 mins or until it thickens. Set aside

 

Noodle cake

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok over high heat. Add a quarter of the noodles, toss to coat in the oil then shape the noodles into a round the same size as the pancake. Allow to cook, undisturbed, for 1½–2 minutes until the underside is crisp. Carefully flip the noodle cake over and cook the other side for 1½–2 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove from the wok and drain on paper towel. Repeat with the remaining noodles.

 

 

Babi Kecap Pork in the SC - Slow Braised Malaysian Pork with Ginger, Chilli and Sweet Soy Sauce

We just had a lovely long weekend at home with my sister and her fiance staying. My sister introduced me to the Almost Bourdain blog which sadly finished recently. We found this recipe for Babi Kecap Pork which not only looked delicious but had the great advantage of using kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and tamarind water, both of which I have quite a bit of and don't use much, as well as pork shoulder which I had in the freezer.

I cooked it all day in the slow cooker and it was fantastic, we ate all of it between the 4 of us. There was no way the kids would have eaten it (they had two minute noodles which they were thrilled about:) but I will try it again without the chilli and I think they will enjoy the sweet salty sauce (and I will add chilli flakes to my serve!).

We followed it up with a delicous apple pie cooked by Amelia and Adam - I love guests who cook us delicious food (and are great company) - thanks for the pie, pancakes, caesar salad, hamburgers and guacamole!

Babi Kecap in the Slow Cooker - Slow Braised Pork with Ginger, Chilli and Sweet Soy Sauce
recipe adapted for the slow cooker from Almost Bourdain who adapted it from Rick Stein's Far East Odyssey
I used the last of the summer's chillis from my garden - one long red and two jalapenos chopped seeds and all - it was the perfect spiciness.
serves 6

2 tbsp vegetable oil
100 g shallots, thinly sliced
50 g garlic, crushed
25 g peeled ginger, finely grated
1.25 kg lean pork shoulder, in 3cm chunks
4 tbsp kecap manis
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp Tamarind water
1/2 tsp pepper
3-4 medium-hot chillies, seeded and chopped
4 red bird's eye chillies, left whole
500 ml asian chicken stock
Crisp fried shallots, to garnish

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and fry until they are soft and richly golden. Add the crushed garlic, ginger and 1/2 tsp salt and cook for 1 minute. Add to the slow cooker, or set aside.

Add the pork to the pan and fry for 2 minutes until lightly coloured. Put in the slow cooker. Add the kecap manis, dark soy sauce, tamarind water, pepper, chopped and whole chillies and stock (only enough to almost cover the meat). Cook in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours or on the stove leave to simmer, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring now and then towards the end of cooking, until the pork is tender.

Lift the pork out of the sauce with a slotted spoon onto a plate. Boil the cooking liquid until it has reduced to a well-flavoured, slightly thicken, shiny, dark brown sauce. Season to taste with salt, return the pork to the pan and stir in. Spoon the pork onto a warmed serving plate, scatter with the crisp fried shallots and serve.

Serve with rice and greens.

Pork and Capsicum Hotpot in the Slow Cooker

I have been trawling the internet looking for new slow cooker recipes to try now winter has well and truly hit! I printed off a whole lot. The first one I tried was this yummy recipe, Pork and Capsicum Hotpot from the great blog Cate Can Cook , So Can You!

The recipe recommends pork scotch fillet, I used pork shoulder which I diced into chunky pieces, it was tender and falling apart. Besides that I just followed the recipe with great success.

Next on the list is Chicken with Almonds...

Pulled pork on bread rolls

I made the pulled pork from this post, back in September again. I did it exactly the same with great results.

Actually that is not true, I was getting it ready the night before and my Mum rang half way through. So of course I multi-tasked.... I was sprinkling paprika all over the meat when I smelt something funny and realised I had the curry powder tin in my hand - OOPS! For the record, curry powder washes off meat quite easily. I cut the skin off the meat, sprinkled with the spices, put in a freezer bag, poured a bit of sauce over to marinate and left in the fridge overnight, with the rest of the sauce in a jug. The next morning all I had to do was pour it all in the slow cooker and turn on.

This time I served it American style on fresh bread rolls with avocado, mayo, tomato and lettuce. The meat from the sauce soaked into the bread - yum! And I remembered to take a photo. The kids thought this was very funny and made me take a photo of their dinner too but I won't share those ones with you, not a pretty site, my 2 year old loves the meat!

Fantastic Chinese Pork/Beef in the SC

Another fantastic recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking, she calls it asian shredded pork/beef, I would describe it as chinese flavoured. I chopped it up rather that shredding it, the meat is deliciously flavoured and falling apart with a great sauce.

One pork shoulder from the supermaket makes heaps, more than enough to serve us for two nights. The first night we had it on rice with lots of the yummy sauce, served with crispy noodle and cabbage salad. Two nights later I chopped it up and put it through stir fry noodles.

Chinese Slow-Cooked Pork
2 kg boneless pork shoulder or beef roast

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
4 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons Chinese 5-spice powder
6 cloves garlic, minced (or 2 teaspoons garlic powder )

Trim any visible fat from the meat, I used a rolled pork shoulder, so I unrolled it, cut off the skin (a bit of a pain) and cut it into a three pieces.

Sprinkle the dried spices directly onto the meat and put it in the slow cooker. Pour over the ketchup, honey and garlic (if using fresh). Pour in the soy and hoisin sauces. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours, or until meat is falling apart.

Remove from the slow cooker and chop up or shred. If the sauce is really runny you may like to boil it down on the stove while you chop the meat.

Pulled Pork in the slow cooker with burritos

While searching the web lately for slow cooker recipe I kept reading about pulled pork. Then my sister-in-law who just spent 2 years in the States was also talking about, so I decided to give it a go. The Americans often serve it with bbq sauce on hamburger buns but I went for a slightly more authentic mexican experience. Most of the recipes are based on ketchup or bbq sauce except for the most authentic of mexican ones which just had too many ingredients I couldnt get. So I just went with it, what I did is based around this Good Housekeeping recipe, but adapted some what.

The results were yum. The ketchup flavour wasn't overpowering but the sauce was delicious. Shredding the meat with forks did make for a great texture but took a while, actually my husband did it and he says it was a palaver. Next time I will just chop it up with a big knife if I am in a hurry.

You could do the same thing on the stove or in the oven; you want long slow cooking at a low temperature.

To bulk out the meal, I also made the Taco Soup that I have blogged about previously from the Year of Slow Cooking blog. Except of course my slow cooker was already in use, so I did it on the stove and it only took 30 minutes and thickened up nicely. This went really well but is quite strong so did drown out the delicious pork flavour a bit.

Pulled Pork
1  onion, chopped into large pieces
1/2 C ketchup
1/3 C cider vinegar
1/4 C packed brown sugar
2 tbsp sweet paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp salt
pepper
1.8 kg boneless pork shoulder blade roast, rind removed, cut into 4 pieces
To serve
Burritos
Sour cream, avocado
Lettuce
Jalapenos (from a jar), chopped

1.Add sauce ingredients to slow cooker: onion, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, paprika, cumin, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper until combined. Add pork to sauce mixture and turn to coat well with sauce.
2.Cover slow cooker with lid and cook pork mixture on low setting for 8 to 10 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours, or some combination depending what time you get dinner on, or until pork is very tender.
3.With tongs, transfer pork to large bowl. Turn setting on slow cooker to high; cover and heat sauce to boiling to thicken and reduce slightly. Or if your slow cooker is like mine and this would take forever; pour the sauce into a saucepan and simmer to reduce. I removed the onion by straining the sauce as I poured it, but this may not bother you.
4.While sauce boils, with 2 forks, pull pork into shreds, this is a somewhat painful process. Return shredded pork to slow cooker with the sauce and toss to combine. Cover slow cooker and heat through on high setting if necessary.
5.Serve on burritos with accompaniments.