- Oden
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For other uses, see Oden (disambiguation).
Oden
Oden (おでん) is a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon radish, konnyaku, and processed fish cakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth. Ingredients vary according to region and between each household. Karashi (Japanese mustard) is often used as a condiment.
Oden was originally what is now commonly called misodengaku or simply dengaku; konnyaku or tofu was boiled and one ate them with miso. Later, instead of using miso, ingredients were cooked in dashi and oden became popular.
Oden is often sold from food carts, and most Japanese convenience stores have simmering oden pots in winter. Many different kinds of oden are sold, with single-ingredient varieties as cheap as 100 yen.
Regional variations
In Nagoya, it may be called Kantō-ni (関東煮) and soy sauce is used as a dipping sauce. Miso oden is simmered in hatcho-miso broth, which is lightly sweet taste. Konjac and tofu are common ingredients.
In Kansai area they are sometimes called Kantō-daki (関東煮 or 関東炊き) and tend to be stronger flavoured than the lighter Kantō version.
Oden in Shizuoka use a dark coloured broth flavoured with beef stock and dark soy sauce, and all ingredients are skewered. Dried and ground fish (sardine, mackerel, or katsuobushi) and aonori powder (edible seaweed) are sprinkled on top before eating.
Udon restaurants in Kagawa Prefecture in Shikoku almost always offer oden as a side dish, to be eaten with sweet miso while waiting for the udon.
In Taiwan, the dish is called Heilun/Olun (黑輪) in the Taiwanese language. Besides the more traditional ingredients, olen also uses many local ingredients, such as pork meatballs and blood puddings. More recently, oden is offered in convenience stores and is known as guandongzhu (Kuantung-chu; 關東煮) in Mandarin.
In Korea, Odaeng (오댕) is a street food that's sold from small carts and is served with a spicy soup. It's very common on the streets of Korea and there are many restaurants that have it on their menu or specialize in it.
Popular ingredients
A variety of oden ingredients- Boiled eggs
- Chikuwabu - gluten tubes. Popular in Kantō, virtually unknown elsewhere.
- Sliced daikon
- Suji - beef tendons
- Ito konnyaku
- Konnyaku
- Konbu
- Carrot
- Shiitake
- Kabocha - Japanese squash
- Cabbage roll
- Potato
- Tsukune - fish or meat balls
- Octopus
- Tebichi - pig's trotters, only in Okinawa
- Tofu products:
- Ganmodoki - fried balls of tofu mixed with grated vegetables
- Atsuage - deep fried tofu
- Kinchaku (巾着, literally "pouch") - pouches of thin deep fried tofu (aburaage) filled with mochi and other ingredients, with the top tied with kanpyō. Also referred to as fukuro (袋, literally "bag").
- Tofu - mainly in Kansai, usually seared
- Surimi products: - most of them are already deep fried before simmering.
- Bakudan - boiled egg wrapped in surimi
- Chikuwa - thick tubes of surimi
- Gobomaki - boiled gobo (greater burdock root) wrapped in surimi
- Hanpen
- Ikamaki - squid wrapped in surimi
- wiener-maki, or sausage-maki - wiener sausage wrapped in surimi
- Kamaboko
- Shinjoage - fried seafood paste
External links
Media related to Oden at Wikimedia CommonsCategories:- Japanese cuisine
- Japanese soups and stews
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