Red Cabbage Okonomiyaki Fritters
with Ginger Rice, Hoisin & Spicy Mayo
- Eggs
- Sesame
- Milk
- Wheat
- Soy
Here’s a cultural food lesson to get you in the mood for tonight’s meal: Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake made-up of a cabbage, flour, and egg batter. When you break down “Okonomiyaki” in Japanese, it quite literally means “what you like cooked.” So, our chef’s cooked up this version using a light tempura batter with red cabbage, scallions, ginger, and garlic. Served on top of sesame ginger rice and topped with the perfect combo of spicy mayo and sweet hoisin sauce, your newest fritter obsession is just around the (kitchen) corner.
Ingredients
2 unit
Eggs
(Contains: Eggs)
2 clove
Garlic
1 tablespoon
Sesame Seeds
(Contains: Sesame)
1 unit
Mushroom Stock Concentrate
2 tablespoon
Mayonnaise
(Contains: Eggs)
82 g
Tempura Batter Mix
(Contains: Milk, Wheat, Eggs)
4 ounce
Shredded Red Cabbage
2 unit
Scallions
¾ cup
Jasmine Rice
1 teaspoon
Sriracha
2 tablespoon
Hoisin Sauce
(Contains: Soy, Wheat)
1 thumb
Ginger
Not included in your delivery
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Cooking Oil
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Adjust rack to top position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry produce. • Peel and mince or grate ginger and garlic, keeping them separate. Finely chop cabbage. Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add half the sesame seeds (save the rest for serving) and a big pinch of ginger; cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, 1-2 minutes. • Stir in rice, 1¼ cups water (2¼ cups for 4 servings), and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until rice is tender, 15-18 minutes. • Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
• While rice cooks, in a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, ¼ tsp water (½ tsp for 4 servings), and sriracha to taste.
• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs*, stock concentrate, and ¼ cup water (½ cup for 4 servings). • Whisk in tempura mix until no lumps remain. • Fold in cabbage, garlic, scallion whites, and remaining ginger. Season with ½ tsp salt (1 tsp for 4) and pepper. Mix thoroughly to combine, 1-2 minutes.
• Heat a large drizzle of oil in a large, preferably nonstick, pan over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot enough that a drop of batter sizzles when added to the pan, carefully add half the batter (add a quarter of the batter for 4 servings). Cook until browned and crispy, 3-5 minutes per side. (TIP: If fritter begins to brown too quickly, reduce heat.) Transfer to a cutting board. • Repeat process with remaining batter to make 2 fritters total (4 fritters for 4).
• Fluff rice with a fork; season with salt and pepper to taste. • Divide ginger rice between plates. Cut okonomiyaki fritters into quarters and place atop rice. Top with sriracha mayo and hoisin. Garnish with scallion greens and remaining sesame seeds. Serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the unique, savory taste; some found it surprisingly delicious with a great mix of flavors 🍲.
- Ease of prep: Generally easy to make, though a few found the batter tricky to work with or fritters challenging to flip.
- Suggestions: Consider adding more vegetables or protein; some preferred extra sauce or seasoning for more flavor.
- Leftovers: Several mentioned it reheated poorly; best enjoyed fresh and hot.
- Texture: Some found the fritters too doughy or pancake-like; cooking on medium heat may help achieve desired crispiness.
Reviews from our home cooks
EXCELLENT! We loved this dish! Full disclosure - we added A LOT of ginger (because we love it) and never expected the fritters to taste so good, but were not disappointed at all. Make sure to chop the cabbage really well and sauce until brown on both sides. So good!!!
I love okonomiyaki, so I was interested in trying your take on it. It was pretty good. I liked the use of the red cabbage, and the spicy Mayo was great. The hoisin sauce was really weird with this, it made me feel like this was supposed to be egg fu young. I will probably make this again, but not with hoisin sauce. - I also did not feel like this was very well rounded as a meal. It would have benefited from some edamame beans for added protein and maybe a side of broccoli or green beans for the veg? Also, I might recommend using French fried onions sprinkled on top as a stand in for bonito flakes. - Lastly, my instructions for this had a typo. The first step said to preheat the oven, but the oven was never used. Just FYI.
Delighted to have made okonomiyaki, I've wanted to for years ever since I had these delicious "Japanese pancakes" on a business trip to Japan years ago. When you say to wash all produce, I hope that the pre-cut red cabbage was actually pre-washed instead. When produce with pesticide residue is cut, the knife blade cuts through the contaminated surface and spreads the pesticides through all the fresh-cut surfaces of the food. Kudos though for providing free-range Happy Eggs. That was a welcome surprise and I felt significantly more pleased about the meal kit by their presence.
Delicious! Probably my favorite HelloFresh meal so far! Added extra cabbage (about double) and replaced mayo with Kewpie Japanese mayo and squirted it and the sriracha directly on top like they do in Japan when you order okonomiyaki.
I know it's crazy but I've never tried a Fritter before, let alone this kind. It was...amazing! I also loved the hoisin sauce and spicy mayo that went with it. So good!! It's incredibly flavorful dishes like these that make me consider becoming vegetarian. All of my absolute favorite dishes are meat free! Also, I'd like to report an error on the recipe card that you may already be aware of. In step 1 you are instructed to preheat the oven to 400 degrees, but nowhere in the recipe do you even use the oven.
This was the surprise delight. Cabbage fritters/pancakes? I think it was the garnishes and sauces that really pulled it together. It was labor intensive but worth it. I had plated the entire meal with the sauces on it, so leftovers didn't reheat well the next day. Didn't stop me from eating them though. Great flavor!
Flavors were great! Love the uniqueness of this recipe. Be careful to cook the fritters all the way through - they can look done, but still be undercooked in the middle.
Legitimately surprised at how great these came out! I've never had a savory pancake let alone with red cabbage, but it was delicious. There could have been more sauce.
My whole family thought these were great. So different. Great way to use red cabbage. Really tasty.
I am not sure if I just didn't cook these correctly, but my fritters never really crisped up the way I expected and there was so much batter that I had these huge pancakes with cabbage. Perhaps some additional tips on this one for the proper results.
