FORTY POUNDS OF CABBAGE

January, 2010

 

WINDFALL

 

When our friends at Eastern Carolina Organics sent notification that they had some second grade cabbage for sale, we bought a case for fifteen dollars.  And then we got to work.  The first thing we made was cabbage burgers.  Next we made sauerkraut.  Which was used later in Reuben sandwiches.  There are so many ways to eat cabbage - all of them delicious.  We made cole slaw and Repollo Orientale which is stir fried cabbage, onions and garlic over noodles.

 

 

OKONOMIYAKI  PARTY

 

By far the best thing we did with our cabbage bounty was make Japanese pizza with it. Okonomiyaki means literally "as you like it grilled" and it began as a way to eat well when food was scarce.

The first thing Haruka and Jason said when they saw we were buried in cabbage was "Let's have an okonomiyaki party!"  So they invited us over to experience this delicious treat.  Haruka mixed up a batter and we put shredded cabbage, onion, chopped carrots and I don't remember what else into the batter.  They heated up their griddle and ladled the batter out onto it. 

 

FLIPPING THE PIZZA

 

Bob did a nice job of flipping the pizza/pancake.  Half the fun of this food is watching it cook and observing each other's flipping techniques.  In Japan you can go to a restaurant and sit at a table with a griddle and make your own okonomiyaki.

 

TO TOP IT OFF

 

When the Okonomiyaki was nearly finished cooking, we added the okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise, the genuine Japanese Kwepie kind.

 

MOUTH WATERING DELICIOUS

It was amazing how wonderful this tasted!  Okonomiyaki is definitely worth making again.  We found a blog with lots of recipes so we can make our own batter and sauce.

 

Okonomiyaki Recipe Blog - an ode to okonomiyaki, the Japanese savory pancake

Including a vegan version of the batter mix:

2 vegetable bouillon cubes dissolved in 2 cups hot water

1 cup sweet potato flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1 cup flour (whole wheat and buckwheat work well)

 

And Quick Okonomi Sauce

1 cup of Worcestershire sauce

1 cup of Ketchup

1/3 cup of honey

1/3 cup of Oyster sauce*

*vegetarian oyster sauce using shitake rather than oyster is available

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