Oden

Name: Oden
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 1/2 Daikon radish, thick rounds; 4 Eggs, hard-boiled and peeled; 1 block Konnyaku, scored and triangled; 1 assortment Assorted fish cakes (chikuwa, hanpen, satsuma-age); 4 Fried tofu pouches with mochi (mochi-kinchaku); 1440 ml Dashi stock; to season Light soy sauce, mirin and a pinch of salt; to taste Karashi (hot mustard), to serve

Daikon, eggs, konnyaku and assorted fish cakes simmered low and long in a light soy-dashi — the steamy soul of a Japanese winter night.

Fonte

Ricetta di Japanese home kitchens · 🏠 Cucina casalinga

Japanese home & street food / 日本の家庭・屋台料理 — Oden grew out of dengaku — konnyaku or tofu eaten with miso — which shifted from grilling with miso to simmering in dashi. Sold from winter yatai stalls and now every convenience store, its light soy-dashi broth and slow-cooked fish cakes define cold-weather comfort across Japan.

Background on Wikipedia ↗

Watch it being made

Cooking with Dog

⏱ 90 min🍽 4 porzioni🔥 300 kcal🇯🇵 Giappone

PescetarianoSenza latticini

Passaggi

Parboil the daikon rounds in plain water until half-tender so they will drink up the broth.
Blanch the konnyaku briefly to remove its odour, and pour boiling water over the fried items to wash off surface oil.
💡 Rinsing the oil off keeps the dashi from turning greasy over the long simmer.
Season the dashi lightly with soy, mirin and salt — it should taste gentle, since it will concentrate.
Add the slow foods first — daikon, konnyaku, eggs — and simmer gently for 40 minutes.
Slip in the fish cakes and mochi pouches and simmer 15–20 minutes more, never letting it boil hard.
Rest off the heat so the flavour settles in, then serve piping hot with a dab of karashi.

💡 Consigli

Oden is best made a day ahead — an overnight rest lets every piece soak up the broth.
Keep the pot at a whisper — a hard boil clouds the dashi and breaks the softer cakes.
Regional broths vary widely — pale in Kansai, darker and sweeter around Nagoya.