Glossary - Ingredients

Chikuwa / Tube-Shaped Fish Cake

Tube-shaped fish cake with a hole in the middle

What is chikuwa?

Chikuwa / tube-shaped fish cake (ちくわ in Japanese) is minced fish paste with starch kneaded in, then wrapped around a bamboo or metal skewer into the shape of a tube and steamed or roasted. Chikuwa is used in a wide variety of dishes like a Japanese hot pot variety using various ingredients and eaten in winter called Oden, other stews, and stir-fry, or the hole in the tube can be filled with cheese or vegetables.

Nutrition facts

White fish meat is high in protein and low in fat. It is convenient when you want to take fish food quickly.

Storage to prevent food loss

Store in the refrigerator or the freezer.

Trivia

Kamaboko(fish cake, fish paste), used to be shaped into a tube like chikuwa until the board-pressed shape was introduced in the Momoyama period (1568-1600), while chikuwa kamaboko which is named after its bamboo shape, came to simply be called chikuwa.