Okonomiyaki Sauce

Ingredients

• 120 ml Japanese or English Worcestershire sauce
• 90 g classic tomato ketchup
• 30 ml oyster sauce
• 15 ml Japanese soy sauce
• 30 ml mirin
• 18 g brown sugar
• 1 piece fresh shallot

Method

1. Prepare the shallot: peel it, remove the dry root end, then grate it very finely or mince it until you have a moist pulp. No pieces should remain crunchy in the sauce; they should almost melt during cooking.
2. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, oyster sauce, soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, and shallot. Whisk before heating so the ketchup does not catch on the bottom.
3. Place over medium-low heat. As soon as the sauce begins to form a few slow bubbles around the edges, lower the heat slightly: it should simmer without boiling hard, or it will become too salty and lose its gloss.
4. Cook, stirring often with a flexible spatula and scraping the bottom and corners of the saucepan thoroughly. The sauce is ready when it coats the spatula, a line drawn through it with your finger remains visible for a few seconds, and the raw smell of shallot has disappeared.
5. Taste off the heat. The flavor should be sweet-salty, tangy, subtly spiced, and distinctly umami. If the acidity dominates, continue cooking very gently; if the texture becomes too thick, loosen it with a tiny splash of hot water.
6. Pass the sauce through a fine sieve if you want a very smooth texture for a clean drizzle. Lightly press the shallot pulp with the back of a spoon to recover the juice without forcing the fibers through.
7. Let cool for a few minutes. The sauce thickens as it cools: it should remain pourable but form a thick ribbon when drizzled.
8. Use at the end of cooking the okonomiyaki: coat the hot surface with the sauce, then spread it into a glossy layer or arrange it in decorative lines with Japanese mayonnaise.

Nutrition

Per serving

Energy

76.8 kcal

Protein

1.05 g

Carbohydrate

15.56 g

Fat

0.18 g

Fibre

0.68 g

Calcium

9.78 mg

Iron

0.2 mg

Magnesium

7.54 mg