Ingredients

Tap to check off as you go.

• Batter & mix-ins: ¾ cup (95 g) Petley Grain Gluten-Free Pancake Mix
• ½ cup (120 ml) dashi stock or chicken broth
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (150 g) finely shredded green cabbage
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 4 slices bacon or pork belly, cut in half
• Toppings: okonomiyaki or tonkatsu sauce, Japanese mayo (Kewpie)
• Dried bonito flakes and pickled red ginger
• 1 tbsp oil, for the pan (step 2)

At the table

• · Green tea or a gluten-free-labeled beer

Method

1. 1Whisk the Petley Grain Mix, dashi, and eggs in a large bowl. Fold in the shredded cabbage and green onions until thoroughly coated.
2. 2Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet over medium heat. Heap half the cabbage mixture into a 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick circle in the pan.
3. 3Lay 4 pieces of bacon across the top.
4. 4Cover with a lid and cook 5 minutes until the bottom is golden. Flip carefully (bacon side down), cover, and cook 5 minutes more until the cabbage is tender and the pork is crisp.
5. 5Plate bacon-side up, drizzle with okonomiyaki sauce and mayo, and top with bonito flakes.

The story

Okonomiyaki is often translated loosely as grilled as you like it. The name suits a savory dish with room for personal choices, but regional styles have well-defined identities. Osaka or Kansai-style preparations commonly mix cabbage and other ingredients with batter before cooking. Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki builds layers, often including noodles and an egg. Those methods should not be treated as interchangeable instructions for the same pancake. The modern dish developed through changing urban food habits and became particularly important in Hiroshima’s postwar food culture. Japanese accounts connect it with earlier inexpensive griddle foods, including issen yoshoku. A distant resemblance to an older thin pancake is not enough to make every proposed ancestor the same dish. The strongest story is one of local adaptation, affordable ingredients, and cooking on a hot iron surface. Finishing touches can include a sweet-savory sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes, and seaweed. The moving bonito flakes are a familiar visual detail, but the cabbage, batter, and method remain the foundation. This chapter follows the mixed-batter approach rather than Hiroshima’s layered construction. For gluten-free cooking, the condiments and stock require as much attention as the flour: commercial sauces may contain wheat, and a gluten-free batter cannot make a wheat-containing topping safe.