Easy. Versatile. Filling. Thrifty.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on canvas. If you are already familiar with this dish you will recognise the telltale hoisin and mayo pattern. The rest of the painting is inspired by a Melbourne artist Rosetta Santucci. I love how she uses white overlaid paint. In this case it outlines the pancakes.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

Okonomiyaki. It's a Japanese street food. Some call it a pizza, some call it a pancake. Personally I lean towards the pancake idea, as they are a batter with fillings not toppings and I just can't imagine these with cheese. But the name of this food basically means what you like, grilled. So if you want to add cheese, then go for it! Okonomi means what or as you like, and yaki means grilled or barbequed. I used to eat these a lot as a student. They can be really filling.

1/2 cup plain flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine vinegar) or sherry or stock, but mirin or sherry are best

Vegetable filling 1 (all veges go into the batter):
1 1/2 cups fine shredded cabbage
1/2 carrot cut into fine sticks
and choose one of the following:
    2 sticks celery, chopped fine
    4 shallots cut down the centre and then into 5-10cm pieces
    10cm zucchini cut into fine strips

Vegetable filling 2 (the cabbage goes into the batter while the rest go on top):
2 cups fine shredded cabbage
an extra egg
extras of choice such as tempeh strips

mayonnaise or salad creme
Hoisin sauce or soy sauce
seaweed flakes (optional)

Mix flour, egg, soy sauce and mirin together to make a batter.

Chop all the veges and mix into the batter.  Don't try saving time by throwing everything in a bowl and mixing.  The results are dodgy.  Mix the batter first, then add the veges.  And be sensible and don't add more veges than the batter can hold.  You want a pancake, not separate batter covered vegetable pieces.
Divide into two and cook in a frypan just like a pancake.  Use a lightly oiled pan on medium heat. Do not squash this so it remains light and fluffy.
If you are making option 2, crack the extra egg on top of the first cooked side and drop your extras of choice on top. Flip this again to cook the egg and extras when the underside is done. 

Serve brushed with Hoisin sauce, criss-crossed with mayonnaise and sprinkled with seaweed flakes.

This makes a light meal for 2.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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