Okinomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is a Japanse snack of egg-rich pancakes filled with savoury ingredients such as shrimp, cabbage and spring onions. The pancakes are paired with a super-easy and delicious dipping sauce made with Japanse mayonnaise, soy sauce and hot sauce.

Serves 2

Ingredients
4 eggs
2 teaspoons container sesame oil
1-2 teaspoons chilli sauce
300g shredded cabbage
3 spring onions
150g pink shrimp
10g container sesame seeds
3 tablespoons sunflower oil (3 tablespoons)
1/2 cup Japanese or regular mayonnaise (½ cup)
soy sauce (2 teaspoons for the sauce and about 2 tablespoons for the batter)
20g flour (20 g)
salt
pepper

Method
1
Preheat an oven to 200° C. Coarsley chop the shrimp and finely slice the spring onions.
2
Mix ½ cup mayonnaise with 2 teaspoons soy sauce and chilli sauce to taste. This is the dipping sauce.
3
Whisk the eggs in a bowl with 20 g flour and add the shredded cabbage, prawns, spring onion, sesame oil and soy sauce to taste. Mix all the ingredients together well.
4
Heat a frying pan over medium heat with 2 tablespoons sunflower oil. Add spoonfuls of the batter to the pan just as you would for American pancakes. Fry for about 3 minutes on each side. Lay them on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Heat them up in a preheated oven fora bout 3 minutes.
5
Divide the pancakes between 2 plates, sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve with the dipping sauce.


Apple Pancakes

Serves 4

Ingredients
for the pancakes
¾ cup milk (about 200 ml)
1½ tablespoons vinegar
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil

caramelized apples
2 tablespoon butter
2 apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
⅓ cup maple syrup

Method
Whisk together the milk and vinegar and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

While the milk is curdling (the milk will literally start to separate. Don't be alarmed, this is supposed to happen!), whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk egg and oil into milk. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined (don't over-mix, it should still have some lumps).

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and grease with some sunflower oil. Pour large spoonfuls of the batter into the pan. Cook about 2 minutes until bubbles form and the edges start to look "dry". Use a spatula to flip the pancakes and cook another 1-2 minutes on the other side. Set the pancakes aside and repeat with remaining batter.

Using the same pan, add the butter, apples, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir over medium heat 3-5 minutes until apples are tender. Add the maple syrup. Serve the apples over the warm pancakes.

We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours


Crepes Suzette

Today, February the 17th is International pancake day. While we love the traditional pancakes with a little cinnamon-sugar and lemon and American pancakes, we felt that we wanted to make it a little more indulgent. So here is an absolute classis which everyone should have in their repertoire.

Serves 4-6 

Ingredients
100g flour
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
about 300 ml milk
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon oil
butter for frying

Suzette Sauce
75 g butter
150g sugar
2 lemons
2 oranges
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or orange liqueur, or to taste

Method
Mix the egg and egg yolk with the flour, oil and a pinch of salt and add part of the milk. Whisk until you have a thick mixture and add as much of the remaining milk as needed. (This can also be done in the food processor.) The batter should be the consistency of cream.

Allow the batter to rest for ± 30 minutes. Cook the crepes in a crepe pan or frying pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Grate the zest of the 1 lemon and 1 orange and squeeze the juice from all. Place the sugar in a pan and caramelise over a medium heat until an amber colour. Carefully add the citrus juices and cook over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Mix in the butter, grated zests and Grand Marnier or orange liqueur. If you dare, flambé the liqueur before adding, but please be very careful!

To serve, fold the crepes into quarters and reheat briefly in the sauce. Serve with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours


United Pancakes

United Pancakes brings the classic and much loved Dutch pancake into the 21st century. They've been open for 3 months and are redefining the way we eat pancakes. They are making pancakes accessible to everyone.

United Pancakes was born out of the fact that there were no artisan pancake restaurants. They noticed a gap in the market and so this brand was born.

All their products are organic and everything is homemade. Flour comes from their own mill and is available to purchase in the their little shop together with homemade apple and pear syrups, old fashioned Dutch candy and their own branded aprons, t-shirts a baby ware.

The restaurant has a great intimate atmosphere with rough bare brick walls and lots of old wood. It's also an ideal place for kids and the staff are friendly and very attentive.

A new addition are pancakes to go, which is great if you need your pancake fix but don't have the time. It's cooked fresh to order then filled with the topping/flavouring of your choice to enjoyed on the go. We took ours to go as we didn't have much time and it was without doubt one of the most delicious pancakes we've had in a while. We will be back!

For more information, please visit United Pancakes.