Destination
Taipei
The story
Tian bu la — the Taiwanese phonetic borrowing of the Japanese "tempura" — is a Danshui specialty and one of Taipei's most-loved coastal snacks: pieces of sliced fish cake, deep-fried tofu, boiled egg, daikon, konnyaku and other oden-style ingredients, simmered in a light soy-and-dashi broth until infused with the flavour, and served in a bowl with a spoon of the broth and a drizzle of the classical sweet-soy sauce (a thick brown sauce made from soy, sugar, garlic and a splash of chili oil). Sold at the small counters that line the Danshui waterfront north of Taipei (Ah Gei is the most famous stall), where you point at the various items on trays and the shop cuts and serves them with the sauce spooned generously across the top. The dish is a Taiwan-Japanese fusion that dates to the Japanese colonial period.
Method
In a large pot, combine water and kombu. Warm slowly to just below a simmer (about 15 minutes) — kombu should not boil or it turns bitter. Remove the kombu. Add the bonito flakes; steep 5 minutes off the heat. Strain through a sieve. Discard bonito.
Return the dashi to the pot. Add soy sauce, mirin, Shaoxing wine, sugar, salt, ginger and spring onions. Simmer 10 minutes. Taste — should be lightly savoury, faintly sweet, with a strong dashi umami.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Blanch the daikon rounds 8 minutes to soften. Drain.
Add the blanched daikon and boiled eggs to the seasoned broth. Simmer 15 minutes so they absorb flavour. Add the fish cakes, fish balls, tofu puffs, konnyaku and shirataki noodles (if using). Simmer another 5 to 8 minutes until everything is heated through and infused with the broth flavour.
In a small pan, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, garlic, ginger and water. Bring to a simmer. Cook 5 minutes to marry. Whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Cook 60 seconds until thickened to a heavy pourable glaze. Off the heat, stir in sesame oil and chili oil.
Ladle a variety of the simmered ingredients into wide shallow bowls, distributing fish cakes, eggs, daikon, tofu puffs and shirataki evenly. Add a small ladle of the broth (just enough to keep everything moist — not a soup).
Ladle a generous spoonful of the warm sweet-soy sauce over each bowl.
Scatter with sliced spring onion, coriander, chili, sesame seeds and shredded nori. Serve immediately with chopsticks and a spoon. Eaters can dip pieces in extra sauce as they eat.
Tips
- Do not boil the kombu. Warming slowly to just below a simmer extracts the umami without releasing bitter compounds. Boiling ruins the broth.
- Fresh fish cakes from an Asian grocer. The refrigerated variety (from a Taiwanese or Japanese section) is the classical choice — various shapes: tube, string, flat rectangle, chikuwa. Frozen work but the texture is slightly firmer.
- Sweet-soy sauce is the flavour marker. This is what makes tian bu la specifically Taiwanese rather than Japanese oden. Do not skip.
- Simmer, don't boil. A gentle simmer keeps the fish cakes tender. Hard boiling turns them chewy.
- Serve warm, not piping hot. Tian bu la is a warm-and-comforting dish, not a scalding soup. Ladle broth just enough to moisten, then sauce liberally on top.
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