Okonomiyaki

Whisk the flour and the baking powder together in a large bowl. Pour in the cold dashi and whisk until smooth, with no dry flour left in the corners. The batter will be thick, closer to a paste than to pancake batter. Cover it and leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes. The rest lets the flour absorb the liquid, so the pancakes cook up tender instead of chewy. Use the time to cut the cabbage and the spring onions for the next step.

• wheat flour200 g
• baking powder1 tsp
• dashi250 mL

Chop the cabbage into pieces about 5 mm across and slice the spring onions thinly. Add both to the rested batter and break in the four eggs. Fold gently with a spatula, about 20 strokes, until the cabbage is lightly coated. The mixture should look like cabbage held together by batter, not a smooth mix. Stirring harder knocks out the air and makes the pancakes heavy and dense, so stop as soon as no streaks of flour remain.

• cabbage400 g
• spring onion40 g
• egg4

Heat a 26 cm non-stick pan over medium heat with about two teaspoons of the oil. Spoon in a quarter of the mixture, about 250 g, and shape it loosely into a round 15 cm wide and 2 cm thick. Do not press it down. Lay three slices of pork belly on top. Cover and cook for 5–6 minutes, until the underside is deep golden and the pancake has set firmly enough to turn. Use a second pan to cook two pancakes at once.

• vegetable oil3 tbsp
• pork belly200 g

Slide a wide spatula under the pancake and turn it over in one quick motion, so the pork lands against the pan. Press it gently once, then cover and cook over medium-low heat for another 5–6 minutes. It is ready when the pork is browned and crisp at the edges, the centre springs back, and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out hot and clean. Keep finished pancakes on a rack in a 100 °C oven while you cook the rest.

Turn each pancake pork side up on a plate. Brush one tablespoon of okonomiyaki sauce over the top, spreading it to the edges. Drizzle one tablespoon of mayonnaise over it in thin zigzag lines, using a squeeze bottle or a bag with a corner snipped off. Scatter a quarter of the bonito flakes on top, a pinch at a time; they curl and move in the rising steam. Cut into wedges and serve while still hot.

• okonomiyaki sauce4 tbsp
• mayonnaise4 tbsp
• bonito flakes10 g