Okomomiyaki are Japanese cabbage pancakes. They usually are drizzled with mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce that usually is a combination of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. I was about to fry up the pancakes and I could tell by looking at it that if I didn’t add more batter to them that they wouldn’t stick together and wouldn’t come out………So I figured I could bake them in a cupcake pan. AND THAT WORKED! Mayonnaise is very fatty and then I remembered mustard tofu sauce from a Michael Voltaggio recipe I followed for shishito peppers…that is creamy and healthier…But today I used Chinese mustard instead of dijon mustard and it was. even tastier. Instead of traditional Okonomiyaki sauce (ketchup, Worcestershire, soy, sometimes honey or sugar) I used a black garlic, ketchup, hoisin, Worcestershire and thought that was tastier. This recipe makes 8 small cabbage cakes so that will be around 4 side servings.

1/4 small cabbage – fine shred

3 scallions – sliced thin

1 teaspoon oil – canola or coconut

1 inch peeled ginger – grated

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1 carrot – peeled – shredded

2 eggs – lightly beaten

1 Tablespoon Tamari (or substitute soy sauce)

2 Tablespoons sesame seeds (I did 1/2 white and 1/2 black seeds)

6 or 7 Tablespoons flour (your amount of cabbage might differ slightly…you might need slightly more or slightly less flour)

non stick spray

6 oz silken tofu

1 + 1/2 Tablespoons Chinese mustard (or to taste)

1 head black garlic – peeled

1 Tablespoon ketchup

1 Tablespoon hoisin

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire

2 big pinches bonito flakes for finishing

2 big pinches crumbled seaweed sheets for finishing

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Spray 8 parts of your cupcake pan for your 8 cabbage cakes.

On medium heat heat up a small pan with the oil garlic and ginger..just heat until you can smell it. Or microwave it in a dish for a minute. Set to the side to cool.

In a large mixing bowl combine the cabbage, scallions, carrot, eggs, tamari, sesame seeds, flour, and garlic and ginger (now that it is cooler) mix well.

Pack them tight into the non stick sprayed cup cake pan.

Put them in a middle rack for 25 minutes. While they are in the oven you can make the sauces.

For the tofu mustard just blend together the tofu and mustard.

For the black garlic sauce blend together the black garlic, ketchup, hoisin, and Worcestershire.

After 25 minutes the cabbage cakes should be done. They need to cool off a little before you can remove them from the pan. You might need to use a butter knife and loosen them from the sides.

Serve them with the sauces and sprinkles of bonito flakes and seaweed flakes.

Enjoy!