KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 — There’s the slowly simmering broth, packed with umami from the dashi base. Then you have a multitude of different ingredients cooked together, from shiitake and eryngii mushrooms to fish cakes and daikon radish.
This is oden, of course, but instead of a yatai (Japanese food cart) in the streets of Fukuoka, it’s a pop-up stall at a weekend bazaar in the Klang Valley. This is Ossan Oden.
Traditional oden typically features ingredients such as yaki chikuwa (tube-shaped fish cakes) and konnyaku (a firm konjac-based jelly). At Ossan Oden, options include seafood tofu, quail egg, fish balls, lobster balls, prawns and even scallops.
Ossan Oden was started by Angelos Lee whose first exposure to oden was during his school days.
Ossan Oden founder Angelos Lee. — Picture courtesy of Ossan Oden
He recalls, “A friend’s grandmother was Japanese and used to serve a very traditional style of oden to us. The taste was so unique and authentic that it always has a special place in my heart.”
Years later when Lee had the idea of running a pop-up booth at events and needed a food product to sell, oden was the first thing that he thought of.
He says, “Whenever I think of oden, it reminds me of my friend’s grandmother. The name ‘Ossan Oden’ was the idea of another friend who also designed my initial logo and mascot.”
(The word ossan means “middle-aged man” or “older man” in Japanese.)
There are many different types of ‘oden’ available. — Picture courtesy of Ossan Oden
The impetus to run an F&B business was something Lee always had. He shares, “I’m a SPM grad student and have taken a short course in Chinese culinary arts. Since then I have been in the F&B industry for the past seven years.”
To prepare the oden, Lee divides the process into two parts – the dashi based stock and the ingredients. He explains, “Our soup consists of only konbu (Japanese kelp), bonito (dried skipjack tuna flakes) and soy sauce imported from Japan. Each batch of soup is cooked until concentrated for quality control.”
The ‘dashi’ based stock is made from ‘konbu’, ‘bonito’ and soy sauce imported from Japan. — Picture courtesy of Ossan Oden
For the ingredients i.e. oden items, these are mostly cooked to order, with the exception of the daikon radish that has to be cooked overnight to maximise its flavour.
With such a variety of ingredients, some oden options stand out above the rest. Lee says, “The daikon and Japanese beancurd are our customers’ all time favourites. Both are soft and flavourful after absorbing the soup’s essence.”
The ‘daikon’ radish (rightmost) is one of the customers’ all time favourites. — Picture courtesy of Ossan Oden
There were a number of challenges when Lee first started his oden business. He recalls, “In the beginning the imported stocks were hard to come by as it was during the MCO period. Hence the decision of running pop-up booths in events seemed much more ideal.” (MCO here refers to the Movement Control Order where travel was restricted for all citizens during the pandemic.)
Customer expectations were another hurdle Lee had to overcome. He explains, “The mentality of the consumers was that of fast food-alike ideas on oden – certain convenience stalls with non-traditional flavours. Therefore the bigger obstacle was in educating them on how to enjoy the traditional flavours of our oden.”
Moving forward, Lee hopes to expand the reach of Ossan Oden.
Lee shares, “Aside from appearing in bazaars, we also serve our oden at events such as Animangaki, one of the biggest ACG (‘Animation, Comics and Games’) events in Malaysia. Our future plans include providing concentrated soup packs, so consumers are able to enjoy our oden in the comfort of their homes or workplaces.”
It’s a little piece of Japan (or traditional Japanese cuisine, rather) wherever we are, be it a weekend market or in our own kitchen. And for Lee, it’s a way of paying homage to the kindness of his friend’s Japanese grandmother… in the form of oden.
Lee recently served ‘oden’ at the Animangaki event. — Picture courtesy of Ossan Oden
Ossan Oden
Phone: 016-209 2741
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ossanoden/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ossanoden/
