9Honey's Every Day Kitchen cook-along: Japanese style okonomiyaki pancake fritters

This recipe is – in my opinion – one of the very best ways to use up your leftover vegetables that are getting past their best.

Okonomyaki is a Japanese-style pancake whose name loosely means a pancake batter filled with loads of vegetables. It varies all over Japan — some are really stuffed with every kind of savoury filling you can imagine, and some are a little more pancake than filling.

I like mine stuffed with veggies. I have favourite veggies to put in it when needed, but honestly, you can use what you've got (as per the name), as long as you cut it small, grate it up, or shred it. It's also a great way to make vegetables the central part of a meal.

They're quick, easy, delicious and a little bit different to the usual pancake or fritter that you might be used to serving. They're also really forgiving… which makes them an ideal recipe for 9Honey's Every day Kitchen recipes. They could be the poster child for the whole thin,g actually, because they are cheap, easy, waste saving, fun and bloody delicious to boot.

Could I sound more excited by them? Honestly, probably not.

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This one comes down to presentation, and that is as easy as serving them with an artful (ha!) squiggle of mayonnaise on top, a scattering of spring onion and some sesame seeds, if you have them.

Just try them. You'll see what I mean and be back for more in no time at all.

Okonomiyaki: Japanese-style vegetable pancake fritters recipe

ingredients:

• ¼ cup shredded red cabbage
• ¼ cup shredded green cabbage
• ¼ cup frozen corn
• ½ a red onion, fried off a little - or a teaspoon of garlic powder
• 2 x spring onions, shredded (greens reserved for garnish)
• 100g plain flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 4 free range eggs
• 1 tablespoon white miso paste
• Optional garnish: sesame seeds (a mix of black and white looks lovely), Japanese mayonnaise, teriyaki sauce

Method:

1. Mix all your shredded or grated vegetables together (reserving the green part of the spring onion).
2. Mix your flour and baking powder together in a small bowl, then sprinkle the flour over your veggies and mix through to coat all the veggies in the flour.
3. In a small bowl whisk eggs and miso together — don't worry too much about lumps, but get rid of the big ones.
4. Pour the eggs and miso into the vegetables and mix thoroughly to combine and make a thick, vegetable filled batter.
5. Heat a fry pan on a medium heat with a little oil (don't make it too hot or the pancake will cook on the outside before the middle is done). Place a large spoonful of the mix into your pan and spread it out to make a large, flat pancake/fritter. This batter makes about four pancakes, depending on the size of your pan and the size of your pancakes. Cook until the batter is set and the pancake can be flipped over to cook the other side. and flip to cook both sides evenly. Serve garnished with mayonnaise, mayonnaise mixed with teriyaki sauce, sesame seeds, and the shredded green part of the spring onion.

Note: You can use any shredded vegetables you like. That's the joy of this pancake/fritter hybrid.

More kitchen scrap waste saving tips here...