Okonomiyaki

I love comfort food. Food that is soft in the mouth, warm and doesn't take much chewing. Nursery food, essentially. I'm thinking of soft boiled eggs, mashed potato, tomato soup... I also like exotic foods, new foods, exciting foods. How to marry the two together? Okonomiyaki!

We had some last night.

Okonomiyaki roughly translates as as you like it. It's a savoury pancake with cabbage being the main ingredient. The recipe I use is as follows, though I substitute all the meat and fish for one standard bag of Quorn Pieces:

• 300g white cabbage
• 4 large prawns weighing approximately 25g each
• 100g squid (cleaned and skinned)
• 125g plain flour
• Half a teaspoon of baking powder
• Half a teaspoon of sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 125ml iced water
  
• 2 tablespoons of tenkasu (deep fried tempura batter crumbs)*
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 150g belly pork, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon frozen peas
• 1 tablespoon frozen sweetcorn
  
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped beni-shoga (red pickled ginger)
• English mustard
• Okonomiyaki sauce (use HP as a substitute - it's just the same)
• Mayonnaise
• Ko-gatsuo (dried bonito powder or bonito flakes)
• Ao-nori (green-seaweed flakes)

1. Chop the cabbage coarsely
2. Quarter the prawns and chop the squid into small/medium pieces
3. Mix the batter ingredients, then add the rest, omiting the mustard, okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, ko-gatsuo and ao-nori. These are your toppings!
4. Coat your pan/skillet with oil or a low calorie spray
5. If you're using belly pork, fry off over a high heat for a minute or so
6. Take half of your raw okonomiyaki and add it to the pan
7. Turn the heat down to medium and fry gently for five minutes
8. Turn your pancake and fry for a further five minutes
9. Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and leave for a further two and a half minutes
10. Turn the pancake again
11. Leave the heat at its lowest point while you add the toppings - first mustard, then mayonnaise, then okonomiyaki sauce followed my ko-gatsuo and ao-nori
12. Slice into eight to twelve bite sized pieces while still in the pan and serve with chopsticks and a glass of sake!

*If you can't get hold of tenkasu, simply leave it out - or use Rice Krispies!