While I was in school (I have a B.A. in Japanese language and culture), we’d often have parties with our teachers which, more often than not, included food. Our teachers were all super nice and friendly and were kind enough to teach us how to prepare sushi and other Japanese delicacies. Also, a few of my colleagues went on round trips to Japan and would always haul food back home. As you can imagine, my student life wasn’t bad at all, as it mostly included a lot of eating.

From those times stem my memories of okonomiyaki – a delicious savory cabbage pancake drenched with sauce and various toppings. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get ahold of any of those ingredients necessary to make an authentic Japanese dish. Things like aonori, bonito flakes and okonomiyaki sauce are nowhere to be found over here. But I worked with what I had and produced a yummy and easy-to-mix treat anyway. So here’s a very simplified okonomiyaki type of dish for you to try out.

INGREDIENTS:

(Yields 1 pancake / 2.10 EUR)

For the pancake:

¼ of small head of cabbage (0.13 EUR)

2 spring onions (0.27 EUR)

2 eggs (0.40 EUR)

1 cup all-purpose flour (0.07 EUR)

½ cup water (–)

Good pinch of salt (0.01 EUR)

Good pinch of freshly ground black pepper (0.01 EUR)

1 tbsp sunflower seed oil (0.01 EUR)

Few thin slices of bacon (0.67 EUR)

Topping:

2 tbsp tomato puree or ketchup (0.13 EUR)

1 tbsp barbecue or teriyaki sauce (0.27 EUR)

1 tbsp mayonnaise (0.13 EUR)

METHOD:

Place a cast iron skillet on medium heat, so it gets thoroughly warm while you prepare everything else. Thinly slice cabbage and spring onion, reserving the onion greens for garnish. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, flour, water, salt and pepper. The mixture should be like a thick pancake batter. Dump in shredded cabbage and spring onion, then stir well so all of the vegetables are coated in batter.

Add oil to preheated skillet and swish around so the skillet is coated evenly. Pour in all of the batter and press down with a spatula to even it out. Cut bacon slices in a few smaller segments and arrange on top of the pancake, pressing them a bit into the batter. Leave the pancake alone for about 10 minutes, until the bottom is browned and crispy and the top is slightly set.

Flip the pancake over and cook for another 5 minutes, so the bacon and the other side get crispy as well. I found that the simplest flipping method was to cover the skillet with a plate and turn the skillet over, so that okonomiyaki falls out on the plate. Then I’d just slide it off the plate back into the skillet.

Serve okonomiyaki with meat side up. Whisk tomato puree / ketchup with barbecue / teriyaki sauce and spread on top. Drizzle with mayo and sprinkle with onion greens. Serve immediately.

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Dok sam bila na faksu (završila sam Japanologiju), često smo imali tulume sa profesorima koji su uglavnom uključivali i hranu. Profesori su nam bili jako simpatični i dragi, a naučili su nas raditi sushi i druge japanske delicije. Uz to, dosta kolega s faksa išlo je u Japan, pa bi se vraćali doma nakrcani japanskom hranu. Kao što možete zamisliti, studentski mi je život uz svu tu hranu bio užasno težak.

Iz tih vremena proizlaze i sjećanja na okonomiyaki – prefinu slanu palačinku od zelja, natopljenu umakom i raznim dodacima. Na žalost, nisam uspjela nabaviti sastojke za autentično japansko jelo. Stvari kao aonori, bonito i okonomiyaki sos kod nas nisu dostupne. Ali sam zato upotrijebila ono što mi je bilo pri ruci i smutila ovo ukusno i jednostavno jelo.

SASTOJCI:

(Za 1 palačinku / 15,11 kn)

Za palačinku:

¼ male glavice kupusa (1,00 kn)

2 mlada luka (2,00 kn)

2 jaja (3,00 kn)

1 šalica glatkog brašna (0,50 kn)

½ šalice vode (–)

Dobar prstohvat soli (0,01 kn)

Dobar prstohvat svježe mljevenog crnog papra (0,05 kn)

1 žlica suncokretovog ulja (0,05 kn)

Par tankih kriški špeka (5,00 kn)

Za serviranje:

2 žlice umaka od rajčice ili kečapa (0,50 kn)

2 žlice barbacue umaka ili teriyaki umaka (2,00 kn)

1 žlica majoneze (1,00 kn)

PRIPREMA:

Stavite željeznu tavicu na srednje-jaku vatru da se dobro ugrije dok pripremate sve ostalo. Tanko narežite zelje i luk, a zeleni dio mladog luka stavite na stranu za serviranje. U zdjeli pomiješajte jaja, brašno, vodu, sol i papar. Smjesa treba biti kao gusta smjesa za palačinke. Ubacite unutra zelje i luk, te dobro pomiješajte da svo povrće bude pokriveno smjesom.

Dodajte ulje u zagrijanu tavu i okrećite ju da bude ravnomjerno namašćena. Ulijte svu smjesu u tavicu, poravnajte i pritisnite špatulom. Narežite kriške špeka na manje komade, posložite špek po palačinki i lagano ga utisnite u smjesu. Pustite sada da se sve peče 10-tak minuta, dok dno palačinke ne bude smečkasto i hrskavo, a vrh se ne zgusne.

Preokrenite palačinku i pecite još jedno 5 minuta, da se špek i druga strana isto zahrskaju. Meni je najlakše bilo preokrenuti palačinku tako da tavu poklopim tanjurom i onda sve preokrenem. Palačinka bi mi ispala na tanjur i onda bi ju samo odsklizala natrag u tavu.

Poslužite okonomiyaki sa mesnom stranom prema gore. Pomiješajte paradajz sos / kečap sa barbecue / teriyaki umakom i premažite to po palačinki. Pokapajte majonezom i posipajte zelenjem od mladog luka. Odmah poslužite.