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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, December 26, 2007

LIGHT & LOCAL
An alternative soup for Japanese New Year

By Carol Devenot

 •  Celebration!

When I started to sell my cookbook, "Island Light Cuisine," at craft fairs, there always would be a few people who would proudly declare that they don't cook anymore. I thought, how sad, because they are putting their health in someone else's hands. My good friend Mitsuko Raben, a sales representative for Hilton Vacation Club, doesn't let her hectic schedule get in the way of preparing great food. Her background and management skills have taught her how to entertain in a simple, healthy and gracious style. She and her husband, Bob, invited my boyfriend and I to her home for dinner recently, where Bob barbecued his seasoned New York steak and Mitsuko prepared Japanese gourmet rice (Nishiki brand), homemade oden, and a Greek salad from Costco.

I have never had this soup before, but after eating it, I thought it would be a great soup to serve for Japanese New Year. Traditionally, ozoni — mochi cake soup — is served as the first meal of the day, but oden, as Mitsuko makes it, might be an easier alternative.

Mitsuko tells me that oden, also known as Japanese hot pot, is served year-round in Japan but especially during the winter. They even have oden stands (yatai), which resemble our old saimin stands. She says oden is not fattening and is easy to digest and children in Japan love it. She remembers that her grandmother always cooked a large pot of oden, nabe-style, with lots of vegetables. She now is doing just what her grandmother taught her, by serving it to her family, friends and even fellow employees.

This recipe calls for prepared oden fish cake, but I have seen other recipes calling for potatoes, carrots, mochi cakes, chunks of meat and Chinese cabbage leaves. You can make it in the slow cooker and have it on hand when you want it — perhaps at midnight New Year's Eve.

Find the oden fish cake assortment frozen at Don Quijote, Marukai or other Japanese specialty stores. Find the dashi shoyu mix where soy sauce is sold.

MITSUKO'S ODEN

  • 1/2 daikon radish, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch rounds

  • 1 block of konnyaku (yam starch cake), cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

  • 1/2 to 1 pound Kibun No Kisetsu (oden mix consisting of assorted fish cake)

  • 2 strips konbu (kelp sheets, wiped with damp paper towel and cut with scissors into 1 1/2-inch pieces

  • 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

  • Water

  • Kamada dashi shoyu (seasoning with dashi, shoyu and mirin)

    In a large stock pot, place the daikon, konnyaku, oden mix, konbu and boiled eggs and add water to cover. Add dashi shoyu to taste and simmer for 40 to 60 minutes. The longer you cook the oden, the better the flavor. Taste and add dashi shoyu as needed.

    Serves 6.

  • Per serving: (not including Kamada Dashi Shoyu to taste; based on 1 pound kibun): 210 calories, 12 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 185 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium, 11 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 1 g sugar, 15 g protein

    Want a local recipe lightened up? Write Light & Local, Taste Section, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; or taste@honoluluadvertiser.com. Carol Devenot is a Kaimuki-raised kama'aina, teacher and recipe consultant, and author of "Island Light Cuisine" (Blue Sea Publishing, paper, 2003). Learn more at www.islandlightcuisine.com.

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