Okonomiyaki — Osaka Cabbage Pancake with Thin-Sliced Pork Belly

Ingredients

• 6 cups green cabbage, sliced into fine ribbons
• 8 oz Thin-Sliced Pork Belly
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ⅔ cup dashi, cold
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp grated nagaimo or 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 scallions, sliced
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 3 tbsp okonomiyaki sauce
• 3 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp bonito flakes
• 1 tbsp aonori (seaweed flakes)
• 2 tbsp pickled red ginger

Method

1. Whisk the flour, dashi, and grated nagaimo into a smooth batter and chill 15 minutes. Then fold in the eggs, cabbage, and scallions — the batter should barely coat the cabbage, like glue holding a haystack together.
2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium. Mound half the mixture in and pat it into a 1-inch-thick round, but resist compressing it; the air pockets are the texture.
3. Lay the Thin-Sliced Pork Belly across the top and cook, covered, for 6 minutes until the underside is deep golden.
4. Flip decisively with two spatulas, press once, and cook 5–6 minutes more uncovered until the Thin-Sliced Pork Belly crisps and a skewer comes out clean and hot from the center.
5. Slide onto a plate, brush with okonomiyaki sauce, zigzag the mayo, and finish with bonito flakes, aonori, and pickled ginger. Watch the bonito flakes dance.