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Why It Works
- Incorporating dashi into the pancake batter provides a briny word to the pancakes.
- Cooking the okonomiyaki in rendered pork fats provides the dish a deep savory taste.
My toddler loves pancakes. Greens? Not a lot. Like many mother and father, I’ve needed to give you inventive methods to include greens into his food plan. Generally it’s within the type of a inexperienced smoothie, different occasions it’s a pasta sauce, and incessantly it’s some type of pancake like okonomiyaki, a savory pancake that is widespread on the streets of Osaka, Japan.
Severe Eats / Kelsey Hansen
The batter for okonomiyaki usually consists of shredded cabbage, scallions, eggs, water or dashi, and flour, although it could additionally include seafood resembling squid, octopus, fish desserts, or meat, resembling sliced uncured pork stomach and bacon. To get our son to eat his greens, my husband and I typically riff on okonomiyaki—which suggests “the way you need it” in Japanese—with no matter greens are in our fridge. Currently, we’ve been utilizing younger spring carrots, impressed by the okinomiyaki recipe beneath from my Des Moines, Iowa-based check kitchen colleague Emily Nienhaus.
Like conventional okonomiyaki, Emily’s batter requires dashi, a inventory made with a dried kelp referred to as kombu, in addition to dried bonito flakes. Dashi is a basic ingredient in Japanese cooking, and brings a savory brininess to no matter it’s utilized in, together with miso soup, ohitashi (blanched greens), and the fragile egg custard chawan mushi. To provide the pancakes one other layer of taste, Emily crisps up small items of pork stomach and incorporates them into the batter, then makes use of the rendered fats to prepare dinner the okonomiyaki. Carrots take the place of conventional cabbage, giving the pancakes a candy, earthy taste and loads of crunch. It’s a straightforward appetizer—and one which’s scrumptious sufficient to persuade each toddlers and adults to eat their greens.
Severe Eats / Kelsey Hansen
The recipe was developed by Emily Nienhaus; the headnote was written by Genevieve Yam.
Crispy, Savory Carrot Pancakes, the Japanese Manner
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For the Sauce:
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1/4 cup (60 ml) ketchup
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2 tablespoons (30 ml) oyster sauce
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2 tablespoons (30 ml) Worcestershire sauce
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1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar (3/4 ounce; 22 g)
For the Okonomiyaki:
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6 ounces (170 g) skin-off pork stomach, reduce into 1/2-inch items
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2 to three medium carrots (8 ounces; 226 g complete), julienned with a mandoline or shredded
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6 scallions, reduce in half lengthwise and reduce into 1 1/2–inch items
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1/4 cup (60 ml) store-bought or do-it-yourself dashi (see notes)
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1 massive egg
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1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity
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1/2 cup all-purpose flour (2 1/4 ounces; 64 g)
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Vegetable oil, as wanted
To Serve:
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Japanese-style mayonnaise, resembling Kewpie
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Furikake (elective)
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Katsuobushi (bonito flakes), elective
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For the Sauce: In a small bowl, whisk ketchup, oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar to mix; put aside.
Severe Eats / Kelsey Hansen
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For the Okinomiyaki: Add pork stomach to a chilly 10-inch nonstick or well-seasoned forged iron skillet. Place over medium warmth and prepare dinner till pork stomach is crisp and browned on all sides and fats is rendered, about quarter-hour. Take away from warmth. Utilizing a slotted spoon, take away pork stomach; reserve drippings in pan.
Severe Eats / Kelsey Hansen
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In a big bowl, mix carrots, scallions, dashi, eggs, and salt. Stir in flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, till mixed. Add half of the cooked pork stomach.
Severe Eats / Kelsey Hansen
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Warmth skillet with drippings over medium warmth till shimmering. Add 1/4 of the batter, and use an offset or versatile spatula to unfold into an excellent layer. Prepare dinner, lined, shaking pan sometimes, till backside is crisp and nicely browned, about 10 minutes; regulate warmth as crucial to stop burning.
Severe Eats / Kelsey Hansen
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Holding the pancake in place within the skillet with a spatula, the lid, or a plate, drain off any extra fats right into a small glass bowl. Cowl skillet with plate and punctiliously invert skillet to flip pancake onto plate. Return drippings to skillet and set on medium warmth. (Use further vegetable oil as wanted.) Slide the pancake again into the skillet, cooked aspect up. Prepare dinner, uncovered, till browned, about 5 minutes.
Severe Eats / Kelsey Hansen
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Take away pancake from skillet. Drizzle sauce and mayonnaise on prime of the pancake. Sprinkle with furikake and katsuobushi, if desired.
Particular Tools
10-inch nonstick or forged iron skillet, spatula, 10-inch lid
Notes
If you do not have do-it-yourself or store-bought dashi, you’ll be able to substitute with 1/4 cup (60 ml) water or whisk 1/4 teaspoon on the spot dashi, resembling Hondashi, into 1/4 cup (60 ml) water. (If utilizing water, regulate seasoning with further salt as wanted.)
Make-Forward and Storage
Leftover pancakes will be refrigerated in an hermetic container for as much as 3 days. Reheat in a microwave or air fryer till warmed via.
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