Lately, though, I’ve been doing a very-low-carb paleo diet. I won’t go into exactly what the Paleo diet is, (you can read lots on ThePaleoDiet.com and on MarksDailyApple.com), except that you don’t eat any grains or seeds. That’s rice, wheat, quinoa, and lots of other things totally out. I can’t even make my usual gluten-free okonomiyaki!

So tonight I came up with a paleo-friendly okonomiyaki recipe. I did it Hiroshima-style, which is always my favorite.

Paleo Okonomiyaki Recipe

Batter:

• 6 Tb almond flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup dashi (or leftover miso soup)
• 1 tsp oil
• 2 Tb finely ground flax seeds (optional) (adds chewiness but is a non-paleo ingredient)

Fillings:

• 1 C shredded cabbage
• 1 Tb beni shouga
• 1 egg
• anything else you like!

Procedure:

1. Sprinkle a good cooking oil on a frying pan, and then heat up the pan. ALWAYS start with a sizzling hot pan.
2. Pour half of the batter into the pan, tilting the pan as necessary to let the batter spread into a nice circle.



3. Wait about 30 seconds, and then top the batter with all of the cabbage. Just pile it on there.
4. Let this cook down for about 2 minutes. You can make it go faster if you cover the pan for 60 seconds, but the cabbage will then be a bit soggy.
5. Make a “well” in the cabbage, and crack the egg on top of it. Immediately break the yolk and swish all of the egg so it covers the cabbage. (It may drop off your okonomiyaki and onto the pan. No worries! Just lift it up and back on top of the cabbage.)



6. Place other filling ingredients on top of the egg. I like to put a few springs of parsley in for color.
7. About a minute later, pour the rest of the batter on top of all of the fillings. Try to cover everything evenly, and this time if bits dribble into the pan, just let them go.
8. Ready to flip? This part can be challenging! Take your BEST SPATULA and lift up all of the edges of the pancake to make sure nothing is sticking. Then slide the spatula under the middle of the pancake and — very confidently, as if you cannot fail!! — flip the pancake in place.



9. With any luck, your flipped pancake now looks like that picture above, shown next to my hand for scale.
10. The Home Stretch! All you have to do now is wait until it looks like the egg inside of the pancake is all cooked, and then most likely the bottom of the pancake will be cooked too. Test the edges and then flip it onto a plate.
11. Sprinkle bonito flakes, which are like fish bacon, and decorate liberally with Kewpie mayo.
12. CONSUME!!

The only problem with paleo is that sugar is definitely off the diet. So no Okonomi Sauce. Hmm, maybe I’ll come up with a paleo version!?

Oh, and I don’t care if Kewpie mayo has some sugar in it. American mayonnaise just won’t do.

I just remembered, I forgot to top it with aonori! And I had some! Oh well, better okonomiyaki next time!

Here is a Kanto-style okonomiyaki recipe presented by Francis the Dog.  (So cute.  Love the accent.)