Cooking Classes for Visitors

Oden

In spite of being one of the most common dishes in the winter in Japan, Oden (おでん) is not well known for the people from overseas. It can be served at restaurants, food stalls, convenience stores, and made at home.
When the air gets cold, every convenience stores start selling Oden all through the winter. So if you are not the first time in winter in Japan, you must have seen its pot at a corner in a convenience store but never wanted to try due to its unfamiliar ingredients and wired-looking.

Oden is a hotpot dish consisting of various ingredients simmered in a soy-flavored dashi (fish and kelp stock) broth. We prefer to add as many as different kinds of ingredients as they improve umami-rich oden broth. The ingredients vary so widely in each region and household. But there are some common items you’ll find in most pots of Oden.

Daikon radish (everybody love when it soaks up the umami soup)
boiled egg
Konnyaku (a hard jelly-like texture food made of some kind of potato)
Chikuwa (tube-shaped fish cakes)
Nerimono (a general name for paste products – chikuwa is one of them. Fish cakes and meatballs)
Konbu kelp
Kinchaku (little pouches made from deep-fried tofu. sticky mochi rice cake inside)

At home, Oden is usually served to the table in a pot, so we can eat them hot and get warm. The full of umami soup is a real comfort. And it is perfect much with Japanese sake!!

Finally, this is a good chance for you to try Oden and even make it yourself!
You’ll surely love to eat during the winter.