How to Make Japanese Oden at Home – Kyoto-Style Oden Recipe
Oden is a popular home-cooked dish eaten during the wintertime in Japan. It is a simmered recipe containing vegetables and nerimono – fish or meat that has been ground, seasoned, and kneaded into a cake. These ingredients are combined and simmered in a flavorful dashi broth.
Many regions in Japan have their own special variations of oden, but today we are going to share a Kyoto-style of oden with you. The Kyoto-style of oden is contains a soup that is lightly colored and simply seasoned but is still packed with flavor. Various ingredients such as fried tofu, dried tofu skin, and taro are often included in Kyoto-style oden as well.
You can cook oden easily in your home. The prep work takes a little time, but the rest of the process is very simple. You can also make oden in a big batch that will last for several days.
In this recipe, our soup base is made from kombu (kelp), bonito flakes, light soy sauce, and salt. You can follow our Awase Dashi recipe to make an extra-delicious soup base. The amount of ingredients in the seasoning varies and can be adjusted according to your preferred tastes. It can be a little difficult to find the exact right flavor so it’s good to keep testing and tasting it.
Eating a hot bowl of oden on a cold day warms your body from the inside, so if you have time, please give making it a try! Now, let’s get into the Kyoto-style oden recipe so you can make it at home this winter!
* It is delicious just with shiro dashi, but if you feel like adding more flavor, you can add kombu dashi or salt to make it more like a typical Kyoto-style oden.
* Serve oden with spices such as Karashi Japanese Mustard and Togarashi to add more layers and depth of flavor
Overview
Prep time: 60 mins
Cook time: 60 mins
Total time: 2hrs 0mins
Total servings: 8
Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
- 1 Liter Awase Dashi
- 2 Tbsp Usukuchi Soy Sauce (to keep the broth a lighter color)
- 1/2 tsp Salt (to taste)
- Half of a Daikon Radish
- 1 Package Konnyaku (Konjac)
- 1 Package Atsuage (Deep-fried Tofu)
- 4 Satoimo (Japanese Taro)
- 4 Hard-boiled Eggs
- 4 Ganmodoki (Deep-fried Tofu Fritters)
- 2 Chikuwa (Type of Japanese Fish Cake)
- 1 Package of Goboten (Fried Fish Cake with Burdock Root)
- 4 Mochi Kinchaku (Japanese Mochi Stuffed in Fried Tofu Pouch)
Expert's Tip
Before simmering the oden, some prep work is required. After the preparation, it’s actually very easy to make oden, especially if you use readymade shiro dashi soup. If you’re having trouble perfecting your soup base, you can also use Shiro dashi! Shiro dashi is a thick soup stock, and it easily brings out a good balance of umami flavor.
Instructions
1) Preparing the Daikon
Peel and cut the daikon into thick slices and make a slit on the surface of one side of each slice to make it easier for the flavors to be absorbed. Boil until soft.
2) Preparing the Satoimo
Peel the satoimo but take care as it can be slimy and slippery. Boil until soft.
3) Preparing the Konnyaku
Cut into small pieces. Sprinkle salt and massage then wait for 5 minutes before boiling.
4) Handling the Boiled Eggs
Boil and peel off the eggshell.
5) Preparing the Rest of the Ingredients
Cut all the other ingredients into small pieces.
6) Simmering the Oden
Once all the ingredients have been prepared as above, place everything together in one big pot, and season with shiro dashi. Simmer it for 40-50min on a medium heat then stop. As it gets cooler, the taste of the oden will become richer. Warm up again before eating.
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