Okonomiyaki Restaurants in Osaka always have many variations of Okonomiyaki to choose from. One popular variation is Ebi Okonomiyaki (Ebi means prawns/shrimp). As our family loves both prawns and okonomiyaki, this is also a favorite on our dinner menu.
If you have a teppanyaki plate, cook this at the table, serving on the teppanyaki plate to keep the okonomiyaki hot. Each person then places a portion on their small plate (torizara) to eat.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- about 1/2 a large cabbage (1/3 of a huge drumhead or 1 whole sugarloaf)
- 2 cups flour (I use self-raising, my mother says plain flour)
- 2 1/3 cups water
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp dashi-no-moto (fish stock powder, can be replaced by chicken stock powder)
- Okonomi Sauce or Tonkatsu Sauce
- About 200g uncooked prawns, shelled, sprinkled with a little salt
- 1-2 negi (shallots/scallions/spring onions) sliced thinly,
- Japanese Mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp beni-shouga (red pickled ginger) chopped finely
- +/-Katsuo-bushi (for sprinkling on top)
- +/-Ao-nori (for sprinkling on top)
- Finely slice cabbage. (After slicing, bruise it a little by squeezing in your hands)
- Mix flour, water, eggs in a large mixing bowl. Mix in dashi, pickled ginger and negi. Add cabbage and combine well.
- Heat a little oil in a frypan. Spoon Cabbage/prawn mixture into the frypan, to make a circle about 22cm(9in) across and 1.5cm(3/4in) thick. Make sure there's enough batter to hold it together. Neaten the edges by using a spatula to push in the edges and any cabbage or batter that's sticking out.
- Cook over med-low heat about 5 min. Flip, then cook another 3-5 min. When cooked through, turn onto a plate.
- Spread sauce generously on top. Decorate with Mayonnaise and your choice of Negi, Katsuobushi and Ao-nori.
