Vegan Okonomiyaki – Cabbage Carrot Pancakes. Japanese Okonomiyaki made vegan. Served with home made tonkatsu sauce.Makes 5 to 6 pancakes
Easy weeknight fix up. Vegan Okonomiyaki Pancakes. Chop up the veggies, make the pancake mix, cook on stove top and done.
Okonomiyaki are usually made with eggs, veggies and meats. Of course we use whatever veggies we have on hand. Chickpea flour adds color and a slight egg flavor with the kala namak. Add veggies of choice, mushrooms, add more nori and serve with okonomiyaki sauce, vegan mayo and picked ginger. Use all chickpea flour to make these gluten-free
One thing I need to learn to do more of this year is scheduling. Currently I don’t schedule anything unless really needed. Everything that gets posted on the blog, on facebook and other social media is organic. it depends on what I made that week or what I am craving and my mood basically 🙂 We made these yesterday and even though i have a few posts in drafts like a Boston Cream pie cake, these make it to the blog today! This definitely does not scale well. The planning helps clears up the weekend and vacation and reduces all the instant reactive work. Always more things to learn!
More quick meals from the blog.
- Vegan Chickpea Noodles with Garlic Tomato Sauce
- Chickpea Flour Vegan Omelette. Pancake with Onions and…
- Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf,
- Chickpea flour pancakes with cauliflower and shiitake
The tonkatsu sauce is inspired by Nami’s easy sauce recipe.
Vegan Okonomiyaki - Cabbage Carrot Pancakes
Ingredients
Pancakes:
- 1/2 (0.5 ) head of cabbage
- 3/4 cup (96 g) carrots
- 1/2 (0.5 ) red or green bell pepper
- 2 tbsp scallions
- 1 inch ginger minced
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) salt
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) white pepper
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp miso optional
- 1/8 tsp (0.13 tsp) Indian black salt kala namak- optional
- 2 tsp crumbled nori sheets or 1/2 tsp togarashi - optional
- 3/4 cup (93.75 g) unbleached white flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) chickpea flour
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) baking powder optional
- 2 to 4 tablespoons water
Easy Tonkatsu sauce:
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce or whatever sauce as we refer to it in my house 😉
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) sugar
- a few tsp water
Instructions
- Shred all the veggies. Add vinegar, and everything through nori sheets keep aside for 10 minutes.
- Sifft in the flours + baking powder into the bowl and mix in. Add a little water to make a mix that can spread. You might not need much as the veggies leak a lot of water depending on how you shred them.
- Heat a pan over medium heat, add oil. Spread the batter to even it out into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick pancake and cook for 5 to 7 minutes per side.
- Serve with the tonkatsu sauce, vegan mayo and pickled ginger if you have some.
- Tonkatsu sauce: Mix all the ingredients until well combined and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
IR says
March 26, 2015 at 6:09 pmThis looks delicious!! Scheduling is important, but natural creativity should not be repressed =)
Richa says
March 26, 2015 at 7:02 pm🙂
... says
March 26, 2015 at 7:29 pmWhat brand of vegan worcestershire sauce do you recommend?
Richa says
March 26, 2015 at 7:48 pmi use Annie’s
Mae says
March 26, 2015 at 8:00 pmThis looks like something I’d order in a restaurant. Wish I could try it right now! I agree with IR about natural creativity, but at the same time I know what you mean because I am the same way! I never schedule anything and I always do just fine, but there is a whole lot of scatterbrained-ness that goes along with it!
Jody says
March 27, 2015 at 12:21 amOh my goodness, I’m so excited to make this! I lived in Japan when I was 17 as an exchange student and I absolutely love okonomiyaki! It was one of my favorite foods there. So excited to make them vegan and introduce them to my husband as well!
Richa says
June 3, 2015 at 4:44 pmyay!
Caitlin says
March 27, 2015 at 6:25 amthese look awesome. i love the idea of a savory pancake. especially with cabbage. yummm.
Cassie says
March 27, 2015 at 11:12 amI love cabbage pancakes! 🙂
Lisa says
April 5, 2015 at 2:15 pmHi Richa, I made these this morning. They worked out pretty well! I’d have to practice getting the thickness of the pancake, the cooking temp, and the cook time down — some of them seemed a bit mushy inside, like not cooked enough all the way through, while getting too dark outside. It was a lot of work and made a huge mess in my tiny kitchen! But they were nice overall, and I’d try them again. The katsu sauce was yummy; I used Annie’s Worcestershire for the first time, and it was great. Also I stirred Tapatio Mexican hot sauce into Just Mayo, and that was a tasty sauce as well. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m trying your Kung Pao Lentils tonight — I’m on a Vegan Richa roll here. ☺️
Richa says
April 5, 2015 at 6:05 pmAwesome! use a really thick bottom heavy pan, make thinner pancakes and cook on lightly lower heat so they dont brown too quickly. it depends on the pans and stove. i used a food processor to process te veggies, so it wasnt that big of a clean up 🙂
Conhumdrum says
April 15, 2018 at 6:17 amI don’t have a shredder on my food processor, but if I can just throw them in there anyway that would make this dish heaps quicker! Do you think that would work? I too made them too thick because I found it a bit unclear when just reading the instructions.
Richa says
April 15, 2018 at 10:32 amyes you can use the regular blade. Chop the veggies into roughly equal size according to your processor size. then pulse in bursts of 5 seconds until coarsely shredded.
Crystal says
April 25, 2015 at 12:45 pmThese look delicious!! My three year old daughter is allergic to chickpeas. What would be a good substitute (besides nut flours…she’s allergic to those as well) for the chickpea flour? Thanks!
Richa says
April 25, 2015 at 12:46 pmuse unbleached white flour. If gluten is an issue, then use oat flour+ rice flour + a little starch.
Jenn says
June 3, 2015 at 9:28 pmMade these, came out great, esp awesome with that sauce!
Nina says
June 7, 2015 at 12:14 pmI am reading trough all your posts and I’m reading ‘a Boston cream pie cake in the drafts’ …. Can we have that recipe please pretty please 😀 😉 ♡
Richa says
June 7, 2015 at 1:18 pmi wanted to make a gf cake before that one and post it with both the regular sponge cake and gf sponge cake options. sigh gf baking.
Nina says
June 11, 2015 at 4:09 amOohhh gf baking is like c real science right… I’ve noticed that I do better when I bake gf ‘stuff’ , but I’m always happy that there are others doing the thinking for me and I just have to follow the recipe (shame on me)
Pongodhall says
June 22, 2015 at 10:38 pmThese are so good! Thank you, yet again, richa.
Put in my regular file. This sounds ordinary. It is not for this is the file that I keep the things I love the best!
We have these regularly and they are ones to present to guests. Menu for week or fortnight list a nightmare without my special book you see.
I love them because they use my favourite vegetables and I also use gf (sorry richa) yes, the dreaded! It is a lovely, simple but oh so tasty and filling lunch for us. They are very portable.
I had to travel a good way yesterday, out for most of day, no gf nor vegan (tut!) so… Out comes my portables and I get to eat (enjoyably too).
Morgan says
July 7, 2015 at 10:40 pmI second what Pongodhall said… this will be a regular for us. It’s delicious and my children absolutely loved them. I used red bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, and zucchini for my veggie blend — worked perfectly. Another wonderful recipe by you… cannot wait for your cookbook to arrive!
Claudia says
July 10, 2015 at 4:04 amTaste so good !
Ricky says
August 12, 2015 at 7:50 pmChope up the veggies.
MJ says
November 3, 2015 at 10:15 pmWhile this was no “easy weeknight fix up” (my fault since I doubled the recipe, didn’t use a food processor and had a baby to contend with), my husband and I totally enjoyed these delicious pancakes! And we’re freezing two more dinners’ worth of pancakes for a a really quick fix up in the future. Thank you for this recipe!
Richa says
November 3, 2015 at 11:12 pmAwesome!! the food processor helps or someone you can delegate the chopping to 🙂
Cameron says
July 30, 2016 at 8:58 amHi what size is the cabbage you used? Because when I shredded up my half i ended up with like 8 cups which I think is too much..
Richa says
July 30, 2016 at 6:44 pmyes, that sounds like a lot. start with 2 cups cabbage and add more if there is enough batter. The mixture should be more veggies than batter somewhat like latkes.
Cap'n Dave says
October 1, 2018 at 11:21 amI know this was from two years ago, but I thought I’d chime in for those just reading (like I am).
For this recipe, you’ll likely want a very small head of cabbage – think “about a little larger than a softball” size. You may want to blanch it first, as that will cause it to shrink a bit.
As Richa said, roughly 2 cups or so. An alternative is to pick up a bag of already shredded cabbage from somewhere like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. That’s about the amount you’d need right there.
This being said, I’m off to Trader Joe’s myself for the ingredients! I’m having these for tomorrow’s breakfast with a little miso soup and rice!
jess says
June 23, 2017 at 7:55 pmI’m just making this now can’t wait to put them in the pan xxx
Jeff says
September 10, 2017 at 10:50 amLooking forward to these. Your recipe looks the best of those I’ve seen on line. Although, I wonder about not using an egg substitute, i.e. Flax seed egg, for binding. All other vegan okonomiyaki recipes seem to use them.
Richa says
September 11, 2017 at 2:08 pmWith regular flour, you dont necessarily need a flax egg. You can add one if you like
Natalie says
November 6, 2017 at 11:38 amI just made these okonomiyaki for dinner and I must say this is a great recipe! I slightly changed the flour, I used 1/2 c. of gram flour and 1/2 c. of wholemeal wheat flour since this was all I had in my cupboard, but it worked. I also added some self-made vegan mayo (oil, soy drink, cider vinegar and guar gum) as a topping to get the classic okonomiyaki flavour.
That was really delicious, it’s the kind of recipe that fills your belly and puts a broad smile on your face, thank you so much for this! I will definitely try out more of your stuff.
Ms_Rach says
January 4, 2018 at 7:19 pmYum, excellent! We loved this as a side dish to a bowl of ramen. I wasn’t sure how/when to mix the flour with veg so mix was a little gummy, but the flavor is killer, I’ll figure it out.
Richa says
January 5, 2018 at 11:11 amawesome! maybe it needed to cook longer? you can also spread the mixture a bit more to make a thinner pancake so it doesnt get gummy.
Windi says
February 17, 2018 at 8:26 amDo you think I could use white bread flour or cake flour as a sub here for regular flour?
Richa says
February 17, 2018 at 10:43 amwhite bread flour will work
Sam says
May 7, 2018 at 4:23 pmShould the dough be “dry” like sweet pancakes, or is it normal to be on the wet side, if properly cooked? I never get them or similar things absolut right. Even when they are extra thin and cocked longer. But anyway a nice recipe. 🙂
Richa says
May 7, 2018 at 5:23 pmits a stiff batter. Thinly sliced or shredded veggies and thin pancakes do well. With thicker pancakes or bigger veggies, it would take longer to cook. Adjust based on your pan. Some thinner pans might burn some parts before the cooking is done.
Jen says
July 17, 2018 at 9:31 pmDelicious – I made these last night and they were a winner all round. Everyone loved them, thanks Richa.
Richa says
July 18, 2018 at 12:23 amawesome!
Ania says
May 15, 2019 at 6:23 pmDelicious! Thank you for this recipe. I had the pancakes with spicy pickled carrots and it was a perfect combination!
Richa says
May 16, 2019 at 11:42 amawesome
Brittny says
February 17, 2020 at 1:18 pmWhat temp in the oven would you recommend baking them at? Our stovetop situation is sad.
Richa says
February 17, 2020 at 1:47 pm400 deg F
Brittny says
February 18, 2020 at 9:01 pmWould you still do the 5-7 minutes per side and take out to flip?
Richa says
February 19, 2020 at 11:04 amit will takae much longer for baking. prob 15 mins then flip
Bg says
April 19, 2020 at 9:55 amWe loved this. Thank you! I used cabbage, beet, celeriac, and turnip. I used a box grater for all of it. I had a lot of veg maybe 5 cups so I used the customizing metric on your site (loveit) and made a recipe for 8 people. We loved them. I have sent it to 2 friends:). Refrigerated all the leftover (there are 3 of us). We also put some vegan mayo (fabanaise) on them as that is how we get them at out favorite Japanese restaurant. This is a keeper!! Thank you
Vegan Richa Support says
April 19, 2020 at 12:48 pmExcellent, thanks!
AnimalsAll says
April 20, 2020 at 8:19 pmI’ve been using this recipe, with some mild variations (eg. wholemeal SR flour only, peas, Obento sushi seasoning, spring onions, more carrots & ginger) for about 2 years. Each time the okonomiyaki just seem to get more delicious and more non-vegans ask for the recipe. I’m currently in protective isolation with my 91yo Mum (with early-stage dementia). She usually lives at home with help from family and private carers each day, but Covid made that too risky. She isn’t vegan, but this is one vegan dish she really loves and never tires of. I’ve discovered that prior to cooking, the mixture can be frozen for several weeks. Also, many of the ingredients last a long time before preparation. Partly as a result, I’ve been able to reduce Mum’s risk of exposure to Covid by only going shopping (with PPE) once every 3-4 weeks. Thank you so much for this. I must look at your other peaceful recipes. If all humans embraced veganism, Covid wouldn’t exist and climate change could be halted. Good luck!
Will says
May 20, 2020 at 2:50 pmWhat does this mean, please?
“Shred all the veggies. Add vinegar, and everything through nori sheets keep aside for 10 minutes.”
Vegan Richa Support says
May 21, 2020 at 2:57 pmHi! It means shred all of the veggies into a bowl then add everything listed in the ingredients from rice vinegar to the ingredient before “nori sheets”. So mix these ingredients into the shredded veggies then set bowl full of this to the side for 10 minutes: rice vinegar, soy sauce, salt, white pepper, nutritional yeast and miso paste.
Will Rankin says
May 22, 2020 at 6:21 amThanks Richa! So at what point do you add the nori sheets? Anyway, I made this recipe and it was delicious!
Vegan Richa Support says
May 22, 2020 at 8:22 pmawesome! add with the flour.
Luisa says
May 30, 2020 at 2:20 amDelicious but I must have over shredded the veg as the batter was wayyyyy too sloppy.i
I shall try adding more flour to the remaining batter!
Richa says
May 30, 2020 at 5:43 pmYes that will very likely lead to lot of moisture leaking from the veggies. Fine shred means more moisture