This was so delicious the picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s so reminiscent of my favorite snack during our Tokyo trip, which says a lot because it was one of my best food trips ever!

Oden (Japanese Fish Cake Stew)

Ingredients

Dashi stock
Kombu (dried kelp) – 4″ by 4″ piece, do not wash, cut slits
Bonito Flakes – 1 cup or 1/3 oz

Seasonings:
Soy sauce – 2 tablespoons
Usukuchi (light color, not low sodium) soy sauce – 4 tablespoons
Sake – 2 tablespoons
Sugar – 1 tablespoon
Mirin – 1 tablespoon
Kosher sea salt – 1/4 teaspoon

Oden ingredients:
Oden set from Japanese market – cut into bite size
Daikon – 1, slice into 2″ cubes
Eggs – 3, hard boiledOptional: the oden set contains various fish cakes and fish balls, but you can add your own stuff like deep fried tofu, enoki mushrooms and sliced scallions.

Directions:

1. Make the dashi broth: in a medium pot, put the kombu (do not wash off the white powdery substance which gives it the umami flavor) in water. Slowly bring it to almost boil, about 10 minutes, and remove just before it boils. Add bonito flakes and reduce heat, simmer for 30 seconds and turn off heat. Let the bonito flakes sink to the bottom and strain the dashi through a fine mesh.

2. Add seasoning and daikon to the dashi broth and cook until soft. Add in various fish balls, fish cakes and hard boiled eggs.

Enjoy!