Economiyake

I am finding great comfort in repetitive tasks. Sorting and editing photos, washing the dishes, weeding and making many many pancakes. It started with crêpes. One of the last foods I ate before the lockdown was a delicious crêpe at the Vancouver Farmer's market. I recreated that experience and its flavors over and over again as if I thought it would make some kind of magic that would turn back time. Then I switched to a Japanese vegetable pancake called okonomiyake. My pancakes are based on the traditional recipe, which varies from region to region. The great thing about okonomiyaki is that it’s a great way to use up stuff in your fridge and you can overcome boredom by making it with different vegetables every time.  So I've started calling my recipe 'economiyake'.

The trick is getting the ration of batter to veg right. Start with a lot of batter and a few veg and then work your way up to having more veg in the ratio. That way you’ll learn to eyeball it and improvise after many many days of making economiyake.

There are local culinary artists making really cook ferments these days and they make okonomiyaki zippy and tasty. I used this spicy red cabbage, butternut curry kraut and this pickled kohlrabi. I 've also added some chopped mshrooms, onions and brussel sprouts which I just sautéed with a bit of salt in olive oil. I've also used nettles, asparagus, and dandelion greens. Have fun and mix it up!

You know how hard it is to find flour right now--well you can experiment using different kinds of flour in this recipe. I have used wheat, spelt, buckwheat and chickpea flower. This way you also get different nutrients in your diet. This recipe makes four small pancakes. You can easily double or triple it.

1/4 c unbleached white flour
1/4 c stone ground spelt
a bit of salt or soya sauce or liquid from ferments
1/2 c water
1 beaten egg
about 1/8 cup chopped veg

Mix the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients, but not the veggies.  Make sure the pancake batter is evenly mixed and then stir in the veg. When you spoon the batter onto the hot, oiled pan, spread the veggies out evenly so they cook through.

 Flip over and cook the other side.

The two sauces you serve on top are mayo and a kind of ketchup. Right now I'm using chipotle mayo for some extra spice. To make the ketchup, I just mix a tiny dollop of Worcestershire sauce into a couple tbs of ketchup. Sometimes I add chili sauce for some heat. The final garnish is ribbons of nori which I simply cut up with kitchen scissors.

I usually drink kombucha with this in the morning and for an afternoon snack. This morning I put some mozzarella on top and I must say, it was a guilty pleasure I enjoyed thoroughly. Try something new and cook up some economiyake today!

For another great idea, check out author Hiromi Goto's instruction on how to make homemade onigiri.

And check out her wonderful web site!