International adventures with grain-free cooking
My favorite part of international travel is the food. I love Japanese food and after traveling to Japan I returned obsessed with a savory pancake dish called “Okonomyaki.”
The night I discovered Okonomyaki I was freezing my booty off in Kyoto. My friend and I ducked into a cozy restaurant to warm up. We sat front row at the bar of the Izakaya (a Japanese version of a Pub, where they make Okonomyaki to accompany alcoholic drinks). We watched as the cook made one after another. It was love at first sight….and taste.
Hard to say, but simple to make, Okonomyaki is a mix of white flour, eggs, water or broth, shredded cabbage and a meat of choice. It’s typical in Japan to throw kimchee into the batter for added flavor. It is then fried on a griddle and skillfully flipped into a beautiful pancake that doesn’t fall apart.
I love to create my own version of recipes. My take was grain-free, meat-free and baked instead of fried.
I also combined the Japanese dish with its Spanish equivalent, the Fritata (also called “tortilla” in Spain: a mix of eggs, potatoes and veggies). I experimented many times to perfect my creation. The only thing that’s missing is the name….
Okonomi-tata sounded wrong. So did Frita-yaki. Let me know if you have a better name for this International Paleo dish.
This dish is so versatile. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And it’s as easy to make as it is delicious.
People who are on the FODMAP diet or have trouble digesting cabbage can substitute sliced or shredded zucchini.
The ingredients:
10 ounces of shredded raw cabbage
4 ounces of coconut flour
4 ounces of almond flour
4 pastured eggs
1 can of tuna packed in olive oil
1 large sweet or white potato, chopped
Salt, paprika, cumin
2/3 cup of beef, chicken or fish broth (this is going to add tons of flavor and gut-healing benefit)
How to
The hardest part of this recipe is shredding the cabbage. I buy mine pre-shredded but if you shredding your own, make sure you have a sharp knife. I also get around peeling my potato by baking it in my toaster over with the skin and then peeling it once cooled (comes off easier then).
Mix the above ingredients in a bowl (I used a fork to mix mine). Spread the mixture thinly in a baking pan.
I usually use parchment paper to bake these sorts of dishes, but since I was out, I greased a 9 by 13 inch glass Pyrex dish with coconut oil and raw, grass fed butter.
I baked it for half an hour in a preheated oven at 360 degrees. Here’s the result….
Of course I dressed it up.
In Japan, they put mayo, bonito flakes (dried fish shavings) and a sweet, BBQ-type sauce on their pancakes.
I improvised with a slice of heirloom tomato, home-made Paleo mayo and a home-made Sriracha (spicy pepper sauce).
As pretty as it is tasty. And a great way to bring some international flavor into your life.
Do you have a favorite recipe from traveling?
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Made this today for breakfast. It is a nice, easy treat. I used all almond flour (don’t like coconut), tuna in water (so I added a bit of home-made mayo) and a bit of chopped red onion. It is very good. I would love to add a bit more flavor next time. Maybe some mustard powder? Would love ideas to spice it up without overwhelming it.
Thanks for another great recipe!
Karen thank you for your comment and trying this recipe. You additions sound amazing. And my recipes are meant to be improvised upon because that is how I do it. I might use another recipe as loose inspiration but I always end up adding my own spin on it. Sounds like that is what you did too. As far as spices, don’t worry about overwhelming it. You could try curry spices (tumeric is a superfood) or you can add cayenne or fresh hot peppers if you like spice. I put homemade sriracha on everything. I got the recipe from nom nom Paleo.
Let me know if you try this again, what you have come up with?
I am hooked on it b/c it is so easy and delish!
I might use salmon (canned) next time. I make salmon patties and they are very laborious since I prefer mine cooked on the stovetop.
I read that Okonomyaki means “as you wish, so I am also thinking about many creative variations.
I can’t wait to try the sriracha sauce, but with salmon in the mix I’ve got wasabi mayonnaise on my mind. 😉
Bon Appétit!
Karen
Oh I forgot to mention that the Japanese often put kimchee in it. I have tried that before too. It is very good, if you like kimchee that is.
[…] I even came up with a baked version of this dish that’s more like a cabbage frittata. Get the recipe here. […]