Japanese Oden Winter Stew Regional Variations

Ingredients

• For the Kanto dashi broth
• 2 litres dashi, kombu and katsuobushi
• 80 ml dark soy sauce
• 60 ml mirin
• 60 ml sake
• Oden ingredients
• 600 g daikon, peeled, cut into 4 cm rounds, scored cross-cut on one flat face
• 300 g konnyaku, knotted or sliced, blanched
• 200 g chikuwa fishcake, cut into sections
• 200 g hanpen fishcake, cut into triangles; added in final 30 minutes only
• 200 g atsuage (thick fried tofu), blanched in boiling water to remove excess oil
• 4 kinchaku (mochi-filled deep-fried tofu pouches)
• 6 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
• 200 g gyusuji (beef tendon), pre-boiled until tender, threaded on skewers
• To serve
• 1 tsp per portion karashi (Japanese hot mustard), served alongside
• Pre-boiling the daikon
• 1 litre rice washing water (togi-jiru), cloudy water from washing uncooked rice

Method

1. 1
   Score a shallow cross-cut into one flat face of each daikon round. Place the rounds in a pot, cover with rice washing water, and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 20–25 minutes. The daikon is ready when a skewer passes through without resistance and the rounds have lost their raw, sharp smell.
2. 2
   Blanch the konnyaku in boiling water for 3 minutes to remove its mineral odour; drain and set aside. Blanch the atsuage in boiling water for 2 minutes to draw off excess frying oil; drain. Pre-boil the beef tendon in plain water until it yields to a skewer — this may take 60–90 minutes. Thread the tendon on bamboo skewers. Discard all blanching liquids.
3. 3
   Combine the dashi, dark soy sauce, mirin, and sake in a wide, heavy pot. Bring to a bare simmer. Taste: the broth should be seasoned to about two-thirds of its intended final depth — it will concentrate and deepen over the hours of cooking. Adjust if necessary, but err toward restraint at this stage.
4. 4
   Add the daikon, konnyaku, beef tendon, and hard-boiled eggs to the broth — the densest, longest-cooking elements first, arranged so that the scored face of the daikon faces down into the liquid. Bring to the gentlest possible simmer: a bubble should break the surface only occasionally. This is where the dish lives or dies — a rolling boil will cloud the broth irreparably and toughen every protein in the pot; the heat must never exceed a trembling murmur for the entirety of the cook.
5. 5
   After one hour of simmering, add the chikuwa, atsuage, and kinchaku. Replenish the broth if needed with additional warm dashi — never plain water — to maintain the level just covering the ingredients. Continue simmering over the lowest heat for a further 3–4 hours. At the two-hour mark, the daikon should be translucent to its core and amber-stained throughout; press a round between two fingers — it should yield completely with no firm centre.
6. 6
   In the final 30 minutes of cooking, add the hanpen triangles. They require only brief immersion; longer cooking will dissolve their cloud-like, yielding texture. The hanpen is ready when it has puffed slightly and feels pillowy when pressed — it should hold its shape but offer no resistance.
7. 7
   Taste the broth and adjust seasoning with additional dark soy sauce if required. Ladle the broth into deep bowls, arranging a selection of the oden ingredients in each. Serve the karashi mustard separately for each diner to stir directly into the broth.