May 7th, 2020
Pictured above is my vegetarian take on Japanese Okonomiyaki! Also pictured, my amateurly chopped green onions. My knife skills need some work.
This dish was very exciting to make, and was one of my first in my mission to explore other cuisines. Though I lacked the traditional pork belly and some other traditional Japanese ingredients like dashi, it tasted great! I think I was able to achieve the essence of this dish, despite my unconventional ingredients. I served it alongside Japanese Clear Soup, known as Miyabi. The Miyabi was also a little non-traditional: no beef broth was used, for environmental reasons. I have successfully abstained from beef for months now — I haven’t kept track.
“Livestock farming has a vast environmental footprint. It contributes to land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, acid rain, coral reef degeneration and deforestation. Nowhere is this impact more apparent than climate change — livestock farming contributes 18% of human produced greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.” from conservation.com
Beef is by far the worst of meats. For each burger skipped, you can save enough energy to charge your iPhone for 4.5 years. That’s insane. And insane is not part of my normal vocabulary. Insane.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 2 pinches baking powder
- dash of sugar
- 4 eggs, beaten
- large pinch of salt
- half a head cabbage, shredded
- 4 broccoli stalks, shredded (non-traditional, but a great way to incorporate stalks into cooking)
- neutral cooking oil
- about 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- about 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- about 3 tbsp ketchup
- dash of sugar
- sesame seeds, nori, green onions for garnish
Directions:
- In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, sugar until combined. Whisk in beaten eggs until smooth.
- Finely chop the cabbage. Shred the broccoli stalks with a cheese grater, then chop the remaining pieces. Add to egg mixture and stir until combine.
- Heat a pan with neutral cooking oil, about 2 tbsp per pancake.
- Add a heaping cup of cabbage mixture to the pan, form into desired shape, and cook covered, for 3–5 minutes before flipping and cooking again. When golden brown and cooked through, transfer to a plate.
- While the Okonomiyaki is cooking, make the sauce by combining soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and sugar.
- To serve, drizzle Okonomiyaki sauce, garnish with nori, sesame seeds, and green onions. Other garnishes: Kewpie, Sriracha, sesame oil.
