How to make ODEN 🍢 (Japanese stew) 〜おでん〜 | easy Japanese home cooking recipe

Welcome to Taiji's Kitchen. Today I'm going to show you how to make Oden. So for those who know One Piece, you may have seen this in anime and manga. But I don't think this is so well known outside of Japan. But in Japan this is probably one of the most beloved comfort food in the cold seasons. In the old times like 30-40 years ago when I was growing up we had vendors like coming to sell these Oden. But nowadays we don't find those vendors. But instead nowadays people go to convenience store to buy these. From mid-autumn to spring you'll be able to find this in any convenience store. What it is just different kind of ingredients put together in soy sauce based soup. Since it's got a lot of different kind of ingredients inside the flavors are so rich but still in one harmony. It's just so delicious. And for this you do need some special ingredients but you can also be creative with this and put different kind of ingredients or just make it with the ingredients you have available. And this was also requested so I hope you enjoy the video and hopefully you get to make it someday. Then let's get started. Here are the ingredients for making Oden. So today I have many variations of ingredients but you don't necessarily have to have all these. These are just kind of typical Oden ingredients and the things that I like. But if you can't get all these you can just get a couple of these. And if you go to like a larger Asian supermarket then if you're lucky you can find these kind of frozen Oden set package where you have all the ingredients together so you can buy that. But today I'll be showing different kind of ingredients that I got separately. So I have chicken wings, eggs, two kind of konnyaku. One is a firm konnyaku and the other is a tie string konnyaku. And I also have two types of fish cakes. One is a chikuwa is a grilled fish cake and the other is a type of satsuma-age or gobo-maki which is a fried fish cake with burdock inside. And I also have satsuma-age or fried tofu. Then I have a daikon radish. Then for the broth I have kombu kelp and dry shiitake mushrooms. And also for the broth I have dashi powder. If you don't have this you can skip this but if you have it it'll give more deeper flavor to the broth. Then for the seasoning I have soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Then let's get into it. So before we start cooking I'm gonna explain about the different ingredients. So for Oden it's common to use two types of solid konnyaku and these types of string konnyaku. For more detailed information about konnyaku please watch my other video on that. These are made from konnyaku yam. These yams are made to paste and then cooked to different forms. And commonly different types of fish cakes like these are used. It also varies differently in the regions. This is one very typical fish cake, chikuwa. Fish paste is stuck on a skewer and grilled. These are type of satsuma-age. This one has burdock inside but these come in different shapes and sizes and so whatever you can find and this is ganmodoki. This is made of mainly of tofu with different other ingredients and they're reshaped and then fried. It's also a very common thing in Japan but if you don't have this then you can just use regular tofu. Preferably more of a firm tofu. Then let's get into it. Let's prepare the ingredients. Then for these I don't need to do anything. I just need to open it up and then chikuwa. It's quite common to cut them in diagonal so just like this. Then ganmodoki is a little bit too big so I'm gonna cut into kind of bite-sized pieces. Just like this. Then for the konnyaku, it's soaking in water so I'm gonna get rid of that water and throw this away. These konnyaku is very typical to cut them in triangle shape so I'm gonna do that. First in a rectangle like this and then you have these kind of typical oden shape. These konnyaku noodles, same thing. These are what I want to get rid of and today I'll be using half of this. So the next thing I'm gonna prepare the daikon radish. So for this it's preferable to use the bottom part because they tend to have more flavor especially when you cook them. Depending on the cooking you don't really have to peel this but for oden it's common to peel the skin so I'm going to do that. These I'm going to cut into like two three centimeter width. So the next step you don't necessarily have to do this but it just kind of give a nicer shape. So for oden it's typical to take these edge off. Next step is also not a crucial thing but for oden it's common to do this where you cut into the daikon radish like this only a couple millimeters deep. This will help the daikon to soak in the soup but also it'll be easier to break down with the chopsticks. Just like this. That's that for the daikon radish. So the chicken wings I need to separate them at the bottom and top. So here's the joint and you kind of go above a lot of the joint here and then cut them right here. Then it gets cut very easily. Here's the elbow joint and then I'm going to cut into right above that right here. And that's that. Then all the ingredients are cut into pieces. We're going to have to pre-cook them. So for the satsumage and gamodoki we're going to let it through just slightly to get rid of the excess oil because they've been fried and the old oil is not healthy for you. So I'm boiling water I'm just gonna let it run through a little bit. Just like this for a couple seconds is fine then this is finished. Then this is done for that. And for the konnyaku we're gonna let it boil one more time. We want to get rid of the kind of odor but also so that the new flavor will soak in better. So we're gonna put this in here and then we're gonna turn the heat to high and bring this to boil. Then once this comes to boiling then it's finished. Then that's done for that. Then next we're gonna preheat the chicken wings. The main reason to do this is to get rid of the excess oil but also excess blood or sometimes they have feathers so to get rid of that. So we're gonna put this in here. So once it comes to boil again like this I'm gonna take it out. And so as you can see the blood has come out a little bit so we're gonna get rid of this and turn it off. And then next we want to wash this very lightly with running water. So sometimes you have a feather like this and then you want to get rid of these. If you see these blood then you want to get rid of these as well. And let's finish for that. As the next thing we're gonna pre-cook the daikon radish. For the daikon radish it's very common to use the so-called kome no togi jiru or the washing water of the rice. This is the water that came out washing the rice but if you don't have this you can just use regular water. Supposedly this will help to take away the tanginess of the daikon radish. Then to cook daikon radish or any root vegetable it is said that it's best to cook on cold water. So we're gonna put in here and then we're gonna turn the heat to high and bring this to boil. So once this comes to a boil I'm gonna turn the heat to medium and I'm gonna cook like this in medium heat for five to nine minutes. So after about five minutes this is finished. I'm gonna turn it off. I'm gonna take this out. So this is finished but we have a lot of a scum around so I'm gonna wash this quickly with running water. Then that's done for that. So as the last thing we're gonna boil the eggs. With a gadget like this I'm gonna poke a hole in the egg so that once it's boiled it'll be easy to peel off the shells. When you put this inside here make sure you use a spoon so that the egg doesn't hit the bottom and crack. For the oden we want a hard boiled egg so I'm gonna cook this for 10 minutes. Make sure you mix this like this every now and then so the egg yolk is not on the side but it's in the middle. So 10 minutes has passed I'm gonna turn it off. I'm gonna take this in cold water and then once this is cooled down a little bit I'm gonna peel off the shell. Because I made the hole in the bottom it's very easy to peel off. So now we have all the ingredients prepared let's put them together with the broth. So in a large pot I'm gonna put in four cups of water. Then in that about half teaspoon of salt, two tablespoons soy sauce, and one tablespoon sugar. Then this about five gram or one package of dashi powder. Then in here I'm gonna put in the kombu kelp and the shiitake mushroom. Then we're gonna turn the heat to high and bring this to boil. So once this comes to a boil I'm gonna take out the kombu kelp and the shiitake mushrooms. And here we're gonna put all the rest of the ingredients. And then as we're waiting for this to come to boil we can prepare the kombu kelp and the shiitake mushrooms. So for the kombu kelp I want to make some strips. It's not really a way to make this but strips like this is fine. And these I'm gonna fold in half and tie it up like this. Just like this. And the shiitake mushroom the whole thing will be a little too big so I'm gonna cut in half. For the ones that have a stem I'm gonna take off the stem. And we're also gonna put everything in here. Then once this comes to a boil I'm gonna turn the heat to low. And I'm gonna put the lid on and cook like this in the soup for about 20 to 30 minutes or so. So that everything will be cooked and so that all the ingredients will contribute to the soup. So 30 minutes has passed. Some of the ingredients will puff up like this. Then this is finished. I'm gonna turn heat off. So you can eat like this but for all then all the ingredients will taste much better if they soak in the soup. So I'm gonna let it rest and let it cool off on its own because when the ingredients cool down they shrink a little bit. And as they shrink they'll soak in the soup. So I'm gonna put the lid back on and let it rest for about three to five hours or so and let it cool off. So it's been about five hours now. This is looking really good. I'm gonna take out just the amount that I will need for today. A little bit of soup. So we're just gonna heat them up. Turn the heat to high and bring this to boil. Now this has come to boil I'm gonna turn heat to low and heat it up like this for about two minutes or so. So that all the ingredients will be heated to the middle especially the eggs. Then now two minutes has passed. Oh yeah this is looking so good. I'm gonna turn heat off. Then this is ready. Let's eat. Oh smells so great. Let's eat. Itadakimasu. Okay let's dig in. So eating directly from the pot is a little bit too hot so I'm gonna put on a bowl like this. Itadakimasu. Let's start with my favorite konnyaku. Itadakimasu. Oh so good. Oh so soft. And for oden typically in Japan we eat it with Japanese mustard. I wouldn't suggest using a western mustard because western mustard they have vinegar inside and the vinegar doesn't really match with oden. So if you don't have this then just go without it. It's just fine. So then I have a chikuwa. Itadakimasu. Chikuwa just soak up the flavor from the soup. Oh so delicious. I also really like this shiitake mushroom. So perfect. Gamodoki or the fried tofu. This is so good. And it's all the konnyaku. This is definitely my favorite. And the daikon radish. As you can see you can very easily break it with your chopstick. After you go inside the flavor is soaked in all the way through the middle. It's gonna be really delicious. So the daikon radish has a little bit of sweetness when you cook it and that sweetness of daikon radish with the oden soup is just a really great match. So delicious. So the satsumage with gobo inside or the burdock inside. Itadakimasu. So the flavor is a little bit different than the chikuwa. Oh it's just so good. Oh this oden flavor just goes so well with the rice. Let's have some kombu. So often with kombu they just kind of come out like this. It's no problem. Another highlight for me with oden is this tamago. The whole thing is a little bit too big so I'm gonna cut it in half. Mustard to it. Itadakimasu. The egg white has soaked up the soup and it just has a really great flavor and I love this tamago in oden. And yet my favorite is still this konnyaku. So even though the konnyaku is exactly the same product just in a different shape still they just kind of taste differently because they're in different form and either way they're both so very delicious. Oh I love this really chewy texture. Oh this soup is just so very delicious. So full of flavor. Oh that was so delicious. Oh that was so delicious and just so filling and it really warmed up from inside. So as you saw the process of making oden itself is not that difficult. It might be a little bit of a challenge to get all the ingredients but like I say you don't have to get all these ingredients. It can also be creative what you put inside and there are some modern versions of this. You can also put in other meat like pork, beef or also even like sausage or in some region they put in also octopus or squid or also you can put in different kind of vegetables especially the root vegetable. You can try putting different things inside what is available in your area. As long as you have this base soup then it's still oden. And if you don't put in any meat you can make this vegetarian or even vegan if you take out the eggs. So I hope you give this a try with whatever you have available. If you enjoyed what you saw I'd love it if you could hit the like button for me so this video can be spread out to more people and if you have any feedbacks, any questions or any requests please feel free to write anything in the comments below. I always always really enjoy reading them. Otherwise I look forward to see you in the next video. Bye!