Oden adventure

The first time I tried oden was in the Hama-Rikyu Teien garden in Tokyo, nearly two years ago. It was a cold winter's day, and although I hadn't long ago eaten an exquisite sushi lunch at the Tsukiji Fish Market, the scent of simmering broth filled with daikon, konnyaku, fishcakes and other goodies was too good to resist. I ate it with hot mustard from a sachet, accompanied by a cup of sweet, milky ama-zake, and it was delicious.

It's perfect oden weather here now: cold and a bit misty.  So as I was browsing the refrigerator section at the supermarket and marvelling at the array of fishcakes, tofu and other tasty fried things, I decided to make oden as my first Japanese-cooking-in-Japan project. Although it takes a while to cook, simmering for at least 45 minutes to get the daikon nice and soft, and then for the best results, being cooled and then reheated so that the flavours blend, it's simple to make. The broth doesn't require a lot of ingredients, just seasoned dashi, and then you throw everything in and just let it cook.

-daikon radish, peeled and cut into largish chunks

Here's what I put in mine:

kabocha, skin on but seeds removed, in thick slices

tubular fishcakes, or "chikuwa"

kakiage, sort of like a fried vegetable cake -
I chose the ones with burdock, or "gobou"

oops, these are upside down in the photo. They're a kind of fishcake
but all I can read is "white-something-fish-age".

Kyo-age, a deep-fried tofu sheet that is a Kyoto specialty

forgot to take a picture of my konnyaku twists, but here's the rest in its packet

I also put in some eggs. Everyone knows what an egg looks like, right?

The recipe is so simple it's not even really a recipe: put about a litre of water in a pan, bring to boil. Meanwhile prepare daikon and kabocha. When the water is just boiling, add a packet of powdered dashi, about 3tbs of soy and 2tbs of mirin (to taste). I also added some prepared ginger (shoga) from a tube -- this is totally unauthentic as I haven't seen it in any traditional recipes, but I love ginger and I think the flavour goes together well.  Put in all the other goodies, cut into appropriate-sized pieces, and simmer for about an hour, or until the daikon is soft. While this is happening, cook the eggs until just boiled (either in the broth, or I did them in my hot-water boiler for the easiest boiled eggs ever) then cool and peel. Take off the heat and leave to cool; steep the cooled boiled eggs in some broth as well.

Ready to heat and eat!

Next day heat up, throw some chopped spring onions over the top (also not really authentic but I like them) and serve with a squeeze of hot "karashi" mustard. 

My Japanese workmates were well impressed when I brought this for my lunch the next day!