My kid is in a Japanese Immersion school (public) and we are hosting a Japanese teaching intern this year. She was missing okonomiyaki, so we made a nagaimo-based batter with chopped dried shrimp and toasted Rice Crispies in place of the tenkasu.
Yes, the store had fresh nagaimo, but not tenkasu.
I have been baking my whole life, and the nagaimo really binds the batter and lends this amazing fluff. It also crisps beautifully. I asked if she was willing to try waffling one to see if it worked.
We ended up waffling an entire double batch of okonomiyaki in my flippable Belgian waffle maker.
The nagaimo is key. In fact, it crisps and fluffs so beautifully I am planning to test a sweet waffle batch with the base batter.
We layered bacon strips in the bottom, put a heavily rounded cup of batter on top, then waffled as normal. It does take longer to cook, so be sure to check frequently. I found a medium heat setting worked best to toast without burning the bacon.
the end result is waaaay crispier than a traditional pancake, with lots of pockets that hold sauce, mayo, aonori-ko, and tobikko. The inside is perfectly soft and fluffy. The waffle form is more stable then the pancake form, and I am very optimistic about reheating in the air fryer.
The recipe I used is here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/okonomiyaki/
There are no pics of the waffle with toppings because we were too busy stuffing our faces.
by alaskan_Pyrex