A Taste of the Places We Cannot Visit: Vegan Okonomiyaki
As we rung in the new year just a few short months ago, I was telling people 2020 would be the year of travel. I had Japan, Mexico and India on the books and was in the early planning stages for a family Christmas in London. Obviously, the universe had different plans. And while naturally I’m disappointed to have had to put these adventures on hold, at this point I’ll be immensely grateful if my loved ones can stay healthy.
But since we’re going to be stuck at home for the foreseeable future, I decided to cook vegan adaptations of dishes from some of the places we can’t visit. Starting of course with Japan, the first big trip on our calendar and perhaps the most anticipated. It it weren’t for the coronavirus, today would be our last day in Tokyo after having visited Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Koyasan and Kinosaki. And one of the things I most looked forward to was the food. On my “to eat” list (and yes, I actually had a list) was ramen, okonomiyaki, Japanese pancakes (the sweet kind), Kobe/Wagyu and yakitori.
Obviously Kobe beef doesn’t lend itself to a vegan alternative, but okonomiyaki does (you can read more about the origins of the dish here, in a post written the very first time I made it as part of my 2017 new year’s resolution). In fact I had not one, but two vegan okonomiyaki recipes I wanted to try – and this week I made both of them!
While these might look quite similar – the recipes were actually quite a bit different. This first one (on the left) comes from Full of Plants. It’s a thicker, more battery pancake with jack fruit mixed into it as well as coconut bacon (this stuff is crack!) It’s made with 1/2 oat flour and 1/2 brown rice flour (the recipe called for buckwheat, but I subbed).
The second recipe is from The Plant Riot. It’s more veggie forward, with more cabbage plus the addition of shredded carrots. It called for white flour, although I subbed half wheat. It also had miso in the batter. I added a tempeh bacon to the top of this one for some extra oomf.
I topped both with the okonomiyaki sauce from the first recipe – a blend of maple syrup, ketchup, vegan Worcestershire and soy sauce – as well as a vegan mayo watered down slightly with almond milk and scallions. And of course the coconut bacon!
We both agreed we liked the first version more – the thickness of the batter and the texture from the jack fruit. It was delicious and very filling. But if we’re being honest, the original recipe I made the very first time I made okonomiyaki – this one with eggs and bacon! – still remains our favorite version.
