Oden

A long gentle simmer in an almost clear broth, with everything added at a different hour.

Beef, Fish, Egg, Tofu. Not vegetarian — contains beef, fish.

Ingredients

the broth

• 2 litres dashi
• 4 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons mirin
• 1 tablespoon sake
• 1 teaspoon salt

the pot

• 1 large daikon, in 3 cm rounds
• 6 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
• 400 g assorted fish cakes
• 200 g konnyaku, scored and in triangles
• 6 pieces fried tofu pouches
• 300 g beef tendon on skewers
• 6 small potatoes

to serve

• karashi mustard

Method

1. ALMOST CLEAR, AND IT STAYS THAT WAY. The broth is dashi with LIGHT soy -- usukuchi -- precisely so it does not darken. Everything that would cloud it is dealt with before it goes in, and nothing is boiled hard at any point.
2. PREPARE EACH ITEM SEPARATELY FIRST, which is most of the work and all of the difference. Daikon par-boiled 20 minutes in rice water and the edges bevelled so they do not crumble. Konnyaku scored and blanched to remove its smell. Fried tofu rinsed in boiling water to strip the frying oil. Tendon boiled an hour on its own.
3. Skip those and the pot goes cloudy, smells faintly of konnyaku, and has an oil slick on top.
4. EVERYTHING GOES IN AT A DIFFERENT HOUR. Daikon, tendon and konnyaku first for 1 hour 30; eggs and potatoes at the hour mark; fish cakes and tofu pouches for the last 20 minutes only -- they are already cooked and disintegrate if simmered long.
5. A BARE SHIVER THROUGHOUT. A rolling boil breaks the fish cakes up and clouds everything.
6. Taste the broth at the halfway point. It reduces and the items release salt into it, so it is seasoned lightly at the start.
7. COOL IT COMPLETELY AND REHEAT, and this is the step worth planning around. Almost all the absorption happens as the pot cools, not as it simmers.
8. Made in the morning for the evening is right. Made the day before is better.
9. Reheat gently to serve, never boiling.
10. Karashi on the side of each bowl, and the broth drunk with it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes