Okonomiyaki Waffles

Posted on by nomnomprincess

The kids have moved back home! Kid#1 has finally finished university and Kid#2 is on term break and is back from hostel. All of a sudden the grocery bill has bounced up and leftovers in the fridge disappear rapidly. Usually most days I either skip breakfast (when I pretend I’m doing intermittent fasting) or just snatch a quick and small meal of scrambled eggs or a piece of low carb toast.

We had a midweek public holiday this week – it was great crawling out of bed later than usual and meandering to the kitchen. I had the idea of making chaffles but instead decided to make waffles instead with almond flour to bulk up the batter. The okonomiyaki traditionally is a Japanese pancake of sorts that is stuffed full of cabbage, meat or seafood. It’s actually a very economical dish as you can throw in leftover ingredients like mushrooms, bacon, or small portions of cooked meats that you may have on hand. I usually always have a can of spam/luncheon meat in the pantry or a head of cabbage in the refrigerator.

The reason why I wanted to use a waffle maker is simply because waffles are really easy to make – it’s just constituting the batter. A good waffle maker (I love my Cuisinart Belgian waffle maker) even has a timer for required doneness. On the other hand I’m really bad at flipping pancakes and it drives me crazy when bits of pancake break off because this is an ingredient loaded batter. It can’t go anywhere in a waffle maker!

This recipe makes exactly 6 segments of waffle (about 1 1/2 batches in my waffle maker). This was protein loaded and tasty. Because my family is not that strict about low carb requirements I topped off the waffle with Bulldog tonkatsu sauce, Japanese mayonnaise and bonito flakes. This gives the absolutely correct okonomiyaki flavour that you can find in Japanese street stalls.

This waffle tastes good even when cold and is great for a lunch box item. This matters a lot to me as I often have lunch on the run and these do pack very well. This waffle is probably closer to a Chaffle compared to my previously posted waffle recipes and is probably more protein-loaded. All in all a nice Asian twist to a breakfast waffle.

Okonomiyaki Waffles

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

    Batter:
  • 5 eggs
  • 4 cabbage leaves, chopped fine
  • 1/3 cup of chopped spam
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 tsp mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

    • Garnishing:

  • 1 tbsp chopped spring onions for garnishing
  • 2 tbsp bonito flakes
  • 1-2 tbsp Bulldog Tonkatsu sauce (can substitute with sugar-free ketchup)
  • 1-2 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise

Directions

  1. Preheat the waffle maker and spray with a neutral oil (I used avocado oil)
  2. Beat the eggs and add the almond flour, chopped cabbage, diced spam, cheddar cheese, cream, salt, pepper and mustard.
  3. Ladle batter into the waffle maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
  4. Remove waffles when evenly browned all over. Use a squeeze bottle and squirt the bulldog sauce and mayonnaise in streaks. Top with bonito flakes and chopped spring onions.

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