Oden

With the winter coming (although we still have some nice warm days in autumn) it will be time to make some delicious Japanese winter dishes. Oden is a typical Japanese one-pot winter dish, in which all ingredients are slowly simmered in the soup. Preparation-time is very fast, but the dish will also require at least 30 minutes (more likely 40) waiting time.

Ingredients (2p):

• 1/3 daikon, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 2 boiled eggs, peeled
• 1 atsuage (deep fried tofu), cut into large slices
• 2 or 3 ganmodoki (fried tofu fritters), cut into halves
• 5 chikuwa (tube-like fish paste cakes), cut into pieces 
• hanpen (surimi fish cake), cut into triangles

for the soup:

• 700 ml water
• 2 tsp dashi powder
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar

Feel free to change the ingredients; add some potatoes (peeled) and konnyaku, substitute for other tofu or fish paste cakes.

View our how-to-make movie...

..or use the written instructions and photo's:

Top: Daikon & Boiled eggs
Middle: Atsuage & Chikuwa
Bottom: Hanpen & Ganmodoki

First step is the preparation: boil the eggs (around 5 minutes) and peel them. Cut all other ingredients as listed above.

Then, take a big fry pan and mix the ingredients for the soup together. Place the rest of the ingredients in the soup (do it the Japanese way and group the ingredients together). Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and put on the lid, then let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes. (the daikon should have become soft) Make sure you do not run out of soup, else add some extra dashi-water and soy sauce.

Ingredients arranged in the soup

Finished simmering

Kitsune Udon

Kitsune Udon literary means "Fox Udon". According to old folk-tales, the favourite food of foxes (kitsune) is 'aburaage': fried tofu, which is the topping of this recipe!




Many area's in Japan are famous for their servings of Kitsune Udon. For example, the area around Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto. Fushimi Inari is dedicated to Inari, the shinto god of rice and business. His messengers are foxes (kitsune) of which there are many statues all over the mountain. Most of the foxes are depicted with a granary key in their mouth, a symbolic key to success and prosperity. Though their boss is the god of rice, the foxes are more into tofu. We visited Fushimi Inari Shrine last June, and off course we tried some Kitsune Udon!

Fox next to the torii gates by Fushimi Inari

Because we really liked the kitsune udon, we wanted to make it ourselves too!

Ingredients (2p):

For the udon-soup:

•  2 packs of Udon (are normally sold in packs of 3)
• circa 700 ml water
• dashi powder (out brand required 2,5 tbsp of dashi powder for 700 ml water to make udon soup, but check the box to see the amount needed)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp sugar

 For the topping:

• Aburaage*
• Naruto-maki (fish cake, in long round shape), cut into thin slices

* You can (apparently) make the Aburaage yourselves. However, we have never tried that and just go for the easy way: store-bought Aburaage. You can just buy the same tofu as is used for inari-sushi.

How to make video...

.. or the instructions:

Mix the dashi-powder with 700 ml water. While bringing up the heat, add the soy sauce, mirin and sugar.
When it gets to simmer, add the udon noodles and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes.

In the meanwhile, get the aburaage out of the packing, and cut the naruto-maki into slices.

Slices of Naruto-maki

Divide the noodles and soup in two bowls, and top with the aburaage and naruto. Enjoy!