Cabbage & Pork Okonomiyaki

📝 Ingredients

• 300 g Chinese cabbage
• 100 g plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp dashi powder + 120 ml water
• 200 g pork fillet
• 2 spring onions
• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 3 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 pinch of salt

🍴 Utensils

• Large non-stick frying pan with lid
• Mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Large flat plate
• Spatula
• Very sharp knife

📖 Steps

1. Put the pork fillet in the freezer for 15 minutes: it will be much easier to slice thinly. Meanwhile, dissolve the dashi in 120 ml lukewarm water. Shred the cabbage into 3 to 4 mm strips and finely slice the spring onions, keeping the green parts separate.
2. Make the sauce by mixing the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and honey in a bowl until smooth. Take the pork out of the freezer and cut it into very thin slices, 2 to 3 mm thick.
3. In the mixing bowl, whisk the flour, dashi and salt into a smooth batter, then add the eggs and whisk again. Fold in the cabbage and the white parts of the spring onions: the batter should just coat the cabbage, it's not a crêpe batter.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the frying pan over a medium heat. Pour in half the mixture and spread it into a pancake about 18 cm across and 2 cm thick, pressing down lightly. Cover the top with half the pork slices, without overlapping them.
5. Cover and cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat, until the underside is nicely golden and the edges hold together. Don't turn up the heat: the inside needs time to cook before the bottom burns.
6. To flip it without breaking it, slide the pancake onto the plate, place the pan upside down on top and turn the whole thing over in one go. Cook for another 5 to 6 minutes uncovered, pork side down, until the meat is golden and cooked through.
7. Flip the pancake one last time using the plate so the pork is on top, then keep it warm in the oven at 80 °C. Cook the second pancake the same way with the remaining oil, batter and pork.
8. Spread sauce over each pancake, pork side up, then drizzle zigzags of mayonnaise from the tip of a teaspoon. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and the green parts of the spring onions, and eat straight away while the pancake is still crisp.