Oden With Homemade Shrimp Balls

By Kay Chun

Oden With Homemade Shrimp Balls
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(167)
Notes
Read community notes

Oden is a comforting Japanese one-pot dish in which assorted fish cakes, vegetables, fried tofu and hard-boiled eggs are simmered in a dashi broth. Hondashi, bonito soup stock made from dried bonito and flavors of kombu, is a convenient pantry item that creates instant dashi. Homemade shrimp balls with fragrant ginger, garlic and scallions replace store-bought fish cakes in this version. As they poach alongside earthy mushrooms and daikon, the soup becomes fortified with deep seafood flavor. Inari-no-moto, found canned in most Asian markets, is deep-fried tofu that has been cooked in dashi, soy sauce and mirin until it softens and absorbs the sauce. The tofu adds texture and another layer of seasoning, but the hot pot is just as tasty without. Add udon noodles for a heartier meal.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 4large eggs
  • 2tablespoons safflower or canola oil
  • 4ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced
  • 1pound daikon, peeled and cut into 1-inch slices or pieces
  • 12ounces napa cabbage (about ½ small head), chopped into 2-inch pieces
  • 2tablespoons instant dashi powder
  • 1pound cleaned, tail-off medium shrimp, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
  • 2tablespoons chopped scallions
  • 2teaspoons minced fresh ginger
  • 1teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1tablespoon cornstarch
  • 4ounces inari-no-moto (seasoned tofu skins), sliced 1-inch thick
  • 1pound cooked udon noodles (8 ounces dry), optional
  • Hot mustard, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

487 calories; 15 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 41 grams protein; 854 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a medium saucepan, arrange eggs in a single layer and add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a full boil, then cover and turn off the heat. Let stand for 10 minutes. Drain and run under cold water until eggs are cooled, then peel.

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, in a large pot, heat oil over medium. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Add 8 cups water, the daikon, cabbage and instant dashi powder, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until daikon is tender, about 15 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    While daikon cooks, in a medium bowl, combine shrimp, scallions, ginger, garlic, salt and cornstarch, and mix well. Using about a scant 2 tablespoons per shrimp ball, form mixture into 16 balls about 1½ inches in diameter. Mixture will be sticky, so work with moistened hands.

  4. Step 4

    Add shrimp balls, inari-no-moto and eggs to pot and simmer until shrimp balls turn pink and are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Stir in udon, if using.

  5. Step 5

    Divide the shrimp balls, vegetables, tofu and udon among bowls. Halve eggs and add to bowls. Fill bowls with broth and serve with hot mustard on the side for dipping.

Ratings

4 out of 5
167 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Niko

Oden gets better cooked for at least a couple of hours stovetop. If you like, once that's done, take it to the table top and add mochi into broth as you cook instead of udon. Mochi gets soft quickly, so you need to pull them out to eat before it's melted away. As a Japanese, I've made oden all my life, but never had udon in it.

Joseph

I didn't have Daikon or Tofu. But it came out very nice. I used the Ajinomoto - Hon Dashi from Amazon.. A lot of flavor in that broth

krisu

One solution for keeping shrimp balls from falling apart, based on other shrimp ball recipes: Use a food processor to mince the ginger (I used extra ginger), scallions, garlic, part of the shrimp (about ⅓ or ½) plus 1 tsp rice wine or sake. Then chop the rest of the shrimp by hand. Add the salt, 1 egg white, and 1.5 Tbsp cornstarch and mix everything together. This worked like a charm: the shrimp balls were tender, flavorful, and held together well, with interesting texture. Delicious!

Kendra K

I didn’t chop my shrimp small enough to get them to really stick together in the balls. But no matter. The pink plumpness of the shrimp was beautiful. Seasoned with togarashi it was perfect. Very comforting.

Nobue

I was born in Japan and grew up in Japan. This recipe is much far from what "Oden" is. We always boil daikon in the water before adding dashi. Some people like to boil daikon in water with konbu but not dashi because if you don't boil first, dashi doesn't soak down in daikon(Japanese people love daikon in Oden). We almost never put Inari no moto and udon noodle in Oden. Maybe after finish eating Oden then put some udon noodles or rice to enjoy leftover broth.

nancy

11-17-22 leftover night. Cooked reg udon, rins3d out in bowls with some sesame oil then added broth to cover. Mixed up more broth to cook shrimp balls. Added a parsnip, carrot, more cremini, another packet of dashi pwd. Celery leaves too. Noodles absorbed a lot of broth and were delish! I kept snacking on them. Reheated bowls in micro, cooked fish balls in new dashi broth and added to the hot bowls. Better than ever, so try with veggies less cooked. Added baby bok choy this time. Good.

nancy

Dipping mustard puzzled me. Do you dip the shrimp balls? What do tofu skins add? Pea pods would be good. Arrit rounds would add some color…very “white”. Forgot scallion greens second time but still good…spicy sesame oil good. Could chop veggies ahead and make shrimp balls…freeze is good.

Christina

I highly suggest making the shrimp balls in advance and putting them in the freezer, just the way you buy them at the store. That way when you put them in the boiling water they do not fall apart! I also added some coconut amino‘s and instead of corn starch I used tapioca starch to make it a little bit more paleo friendly...although i totally used Udon noodles :)

nomad_manhattan

I made oden and nabe (hot pot) often in winter. Hondashi is def better made from scratch, if you can find the ingredients. You can use any fishcake, mixed of various mushrooms e.g. enoki, king oyster, trumpet mushroom for extra earthy sweetness. For the broth, simmer in low/medium heat for 25-30 after the water is boiled and daikon is soften (step 2 above). That way it will come out naturally sweeter, more depth. While udon is commonly used, I prefer adding konjak noodle for texture/low cab.

krisu

One solution for keeping shrimp balls from falling apart, based on other shrimp ball recipes: Use a food processor to mince the ginger (I used extra ginger), scallions, garlic, part of the shrimp (about ⅓ or ½) plus 1 tsp rice wine or sake. Then chop the rest of the shrimp by hand. Add the salt, 1 egg white, and 1.5 Tbsp cornstarch and mix everything together. This worked like a charm: the shrimp balls were tender, flavorful, and held together well, with interesting texture. Delicious!

Marli

I tried looking up a recipe for the inari-no-moto, since I have tons of ramen ingredients. Every recipe I found involved opening a can of them and stuffing them with fillings. (Never found out how to make them.) So I wonder, since the shrimp balls just fell apart, why they did not stuff the shrimp into these wrappers? In what city is it more common to see inari-no-moto on the shelf but NOT sake and mirin? The markets around here have Chinese & Hmong only. I never saw inari-no-moto, will look.

lynn rogers

Not sure where you are located, and I guess maybe this is a regional thing. Here in the Bay Area we have eclectic food availability. There are a number of excellent Japanese grocery stores plus stores that stock Japanese food items. AND the stores that supply other Asian/South Asian/Pacific Island food items. If you are in the Bay Area, look up Nijiya Mkt (6 locations) or Berkeley Bowl (2 locations) and others.

Marli

Used dried shiitake and saved soaking liquid for broth. Added a carrot. Added an egg to the shrimp balls and baked them in mini-muffin tins 350 for 10 mins (made 24). Soaked eggs in chashu chicken cooking liquid (saved in freezer), diced up “spicy tofu” product and soaked those in chashu too. Might end up adding a bit of the chashu cooking liquid to the broth, if it seems to need it. Fun way to use up the last of the radishes and cabbage from my new root cellar!

sophie

Super delicious soup but the shrimp balls didn’t really hold together. If i made it again i would definitely either spin the shrimp quickly in food pro or chop very finely. Other wise very nice soup that i would make again.

Roz

Made this for dinner and it was good if not inspired...we were happy and full but didn’t feel it was a total home run. Leftovers today however much better! I forget that that so often happens with soup. The Shrimp completely fell apart which we didn’t mind at all but I cant imagine how they would have stayed together. Cut smaller? Something else to bind them??

Kendra K

I’ve made this recipe twice now, exactly as it’s written, and it is now my favorite soup! I live the contrast between the subtle Japaneseness of the soup and the bright Chineseness of the shrimp balls. And it comes together so quickly. I like it with the shrimp just barely cooked.

Juliette

I made the recipe exactly as instructed and the general flavour was incredible. Japanese all the way, with all its best qualities and subtleties. But the shrimp balls fell apart as soon as they were dunked in the gently simmering oden, by the end of the 5 minutes they had disintegrated into the broth. It was still very good but the textures were not there. I'm wondering if there is a way to keep them together, since 1tbs of cornstarch doesn't seem to do the trick. Any suggestions?

Sumi

I dunno about this version of Oden. The shrimp balls are fine. As fish balls of various flavors and vegetables are the main event of Oden along with konyaku. I suppose using canned tofu skins basically is an out to season the soup with soysauce, mirin, sake (the trilogy of Japanese cooking). I guess if you live in areas where you can't get to an Asian market this will do. But, overall, I'd say C'mon NYT, you can do better than this to represent the proper Oden. Oh and no Udon in my Oden!

Susan

How do you make shrimp balls?

Karen

Add broth? What broth? It’s not in ingredients. Fish? Shrimp made from shells? Vegetable? Poultry?

Bar Not Kitchen

If I already have homemade dashi, I can just add the vegetables and shrimp balls and simmer right?

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