okonomiyaki a.k.a japanese pizza

i love okonomiyaki. it's an amazingly simple dish to prepare & cook but has everything you need for a complete meal; veges, carbs and protein. the little restaurant that used to just make good okonomiyaki is now no where to be found... so, after craving for a good okonomiyaki for the longest time, my good friend & i decided to make our first okonomiyaki today ... and IT WAS GOOD!!!




Ingredients
>> batter
2 cups        okonomiyaki mix
11/2 cups   water
3                eggs
5-6 cups    cabbage
1 cup        carrots
1               green pepper
1               yellow / red pepper
1               yellow onion
1 tbsp       finely chopped garlic
2 cups       fresh shrimps, deveined, washed & drained
1 cup        squids, thinly sliced into 
                 rounds
                 pepper to taste


>> topping / garnishing
                japanese mayonaise
                okonomiyaki sauce
                bonito flakes
                seaweed strips (optional)

• thinly slice all vegetables 
• add eggs to okonomiyaki mix, then add water;  mix well until batter is smooth
• add vegetable and seafood into batter and mix well
• heat pan on medium heat. scoop batter mix into pan & make round pancake shape and cover lid for a minute or two
• open lid & turn pancake, close lid for another 2 minutes or so; or until pancake is cooked
• remove & garnish with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonaise and bonito flakes

Notes
this recipe makes about 5 six inch pancakes. you can make them bigger or smaller, as you like
vegetarians can just omit the meat / seafood
you can also add ham / bacon if you want
the batter can be adjusted. we made the batter slightly thin & runny as we did not want the pancake to taste like flour... it turned out really nice as there was just enough batter to hold all the ingredients together
this makes a really good meal for children as you can hide ALL the vegetables in the pancakes and garnish it with the yummy topping, and they will not complain!