Chikuwa/Tube-shaped fish cake
Tube-shaped fish cake with a hole in the middle
Details
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
White fish meat is high in protein and low in fat. Do note that chikuwa is somewhat high in sodium and sugar, so be careful not to overeat if monitoring salt or sugar levels.
Storage
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.
