By Lola Milholland
The year I lived in Kyoto, Japan, I traveled to Korea over winter break. On Christmas morning, in the freezing cold, I was walking to catch a bus and came upon a street food vendor making breakfast sandwiches. The snow had begun to fall and he let me shelter under his tarp while he made me a very simple cabbage-egg omelet that he served between big fluffy slices of white bread with a delicious sauce that reminded me of Japanese okonomiyaki sauce. I loved the sandwich so much! It felt vaguely healthy but also rich and satisfying. I haven’t had anything quite like it since.
When we made our own yakisoba sauce, I knew I wanted to try to recreate this breakfast sandwich. I suppose you could eat it any time of day, but I love starting off the day with something this delicious. After I attempted my own version, I looked it up, and it turns out this is a common Korean street food called gilgeori toast. Apparently, the classic version contains some carrot and onion, a dusting of sugar, and ketchup. That sounds good, too! And how I turned ketchup into okonomiyaki sauce is a mystery. But in the meantime, here it another take, transformed over the years in my memory. I really like it! You don’t need to serve it with bread at all! In fact, it would be wonderful on its own with a little sauce for dipping.
Makes 2 servings
2 eggs
2 tablespoons potato starch
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 scallion, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Umi Organic yakisoba sauce + extra for serving
Optional:
2 slices of sandwich bread
Mayonnaise
Furikake, aonori (powdered seaweed), or toasted sesame seeds
Chili oil
Directions
Mix together the egg, potato starch, water, salt, and freshly ground black pepper until it is thoroughly combined. Mix in the cabbage and scallion.
Heat a small pan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter. Once it melts, pour in half of the cabbage omelet mixture. Cook until the bottom turns golden, about 3 minutes. Test by lifting up a corner and peeking underneath. Flip and continue to cook until the second side turns golden. This should take about 3 minutes. Pour 1 tablespoon Umi Organic yakisoba sauce over the top and set aside. Repeat, starting with melting the butter, with the remaining cabbage batter.
At this point, you can serve the omelets as is, drizzling a little extra sauce on top, or you can proceed with a simple open-faced breakfast sandwich.
Toast 2 pieces of sandwich bread. Spread generously with mayonnaise. To place the cabbage pancake on the bread, either fold it in half or cut it into pieces and lay them on top of each other, covering the toast. Drizzle a little extra Umi Organic yakisoba sauce over the top and serve with optional furikake and chili oil on the side. This would also taste amazing with a big slice of tomato, in season, hidden between the toast and the cabbage omelet. Enjoy!
