Have you ever tried oden? Oden is a type of stew in Japanese cuisine. It is also classified as a hot pot dish, and is perfect for the upcoming season. Dashi soup stock made from dried bonito flakes and kelp is seasoned, and various ingredients such as daikon, hard-boiled eggs, konnyaku, sausages, and processed fishcakes are added and simmered for a long time. This week, we will introduce the oden ingredients you can get at Maido, how to make oden and remake it to another dish, oden from different regions in Japan, and the history of oden. Here we go!
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Oden Ingredients Maido Currently Offers
Kibun, Oden Set
This set includes assorted fish cakes and a soup base. You can make oden very easily with it! Fish cakes are greasy, so you might want to pour some hot water over them to remove some oil before putting them in oden (same for tofu cutlet and sausages introduced below).
S&B, Japanese Seasoning & Soup Mix
This is a long-selling oden stock. The broth made from Makurazaki bonito flakes and Hokkaido Hidaka kombu kelp is the key to its flavor. It can be used for a wide range of Japanese-style dishes, not only for oden, but also cooked rice, chawan-mushi, udon, simmered dishes, and other hot pot dishes.
Yamaki, Kappo Shiradashi
You just need to add this and water to simmer the ingredients to make oden. (shiradashi 1: water 8) It is very versatile. You can use it for many other dishes like udon, hot pot, egg omelet etc...
Jidori Eggs 1 dozen
These special eggs come from an equally special Japanese breed of chicken, called Hinai-Jidori, which are known for producing eggs with rich, dark yolks. You can make boiled eggs and put them in oden.
Suzuki Farm, Daikon Radishes
They are a root vegetable similar in the shape of large carrots with a flavor that is similar to mild red radishes. For oden, you can slice them to the circle shape, or cut the circle into two or four pieces.
Tsutomu Foods, Komusubi Shirataki
These translucent, gelatinous traditional Japanese konjac yam noodle knots are super healthy and have low calories; they are great for diet and weight loss. They're also suitable for normalizing cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.
Tsutomu Foods, Konnyaku-Kuro
Konnyaku is also made from the konjacus yam. It's chewy and healthy. People usually cut it in triangle shapes for oden. It is better to boil it before putting it in oden to remove the scum.
House Foods, Organic Tofu Cutlet
Tofu Cutlet is deep-fried tofu. It is also good for stir-fry, vegetable curry, and many other dishes! You can cut it into some pieces for oden.
Kibun, Hanpen Hanpen is a Japanese fish cake made from white fish paste, salt, and kombu dashi with grated Japanese mountain yam as binding agent (it gets slimy after grated). It has a soft and spongy texture and a mild taste. Hanpen is low in fat, high in protein, and a rich source of calcium. You can cut it into pieces for oden.
Kibun, Uogashi Age It is a kind of fish cake made with white fish paste, tofu, and added with other ingredients that go well together. It is very fluffy and mild. You can just put it in oden as they are.
Mizuno, Edamame Arare
These mini fish cakes with edamame have a mild flavor that spreads softly in your mouth. They are deep-fried, grilled, and finished with salt. You can put them in oden as they are.
Kagosei, Kinpira Kinpira is a dish of finely chopped vegetables, usually gobo burdock roots and carrots stir-fried in a sweet and spicy sauce with sugar and soy sauce. This product contains kinpira inside the fish cakes, which adds extra texture and flavor to the plain fish cakes.
Kagosei, Takobei
These fish cakes have octopus in them. The octopus makes them even chewier. For those who want more interesting texture, this is perfect! You can add them to oden as they are.
Tai-Iri Takebue Chikuwa
Chikuwa is a type of Japanese fish cake made from ingredients such as sea bream fish paste, salt, sugar, starch, monosodium glutamate, and egg white. It is tube shaped with a hole in the middle. Usually, people put the whole things in oden without cutting them.
Kibun, Chikuwabu
Chikuwabu are made from flour and salt. The name comes from the chikuwa-shaped fu. However, they are not made by extracting gluten like fu. They are made by heating a dough made by kneading flour, salt and water, and are more like udon noodles.
Kibun, Mochi Iri Kinchaku
They are deep-fried tofu with mochi sticky rice cake inside. The mochi will melt in oden. When using the pre-made products, they are often made with starch, so it is recommended to put them in just before eating to prevent them from becoming too soft.
Mac, Tofu Shop's Ganmo
Ganmo is a short-term for ganmodoki, a dish in which tofu is crushed, mixed with carrots, renkon lotus root, gobo burdock root, etc. and deep-fried. These ganmo are softly fried using delicious homemade tofu from a tofu shop. They contain plenty of cooking liquid and can be served simmered or baked.
Gourmet Family, Berkshire Natural Casing Sausage
You can add not only fish cakes but also "meat cakes" as known as sausages. They are so tasty in oden. You will love them!
Dried Kombu Kelp
In oden, kombu are usually knotted. You can make kombu knots easily with these products. The directions will be introduced in the next blog post.
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There is a lot of food items, housewares, stationery, and gifts available at the store and our online store, Maido! Kairashi Shop, where you can place your order for shipping or store pickup! Happy shopping. :)
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