I have a Korean food joke for you.
What did the boy say when he dropped his fishcake?
Oh deng.
Hahaha

So what is O-deng? It is fish cake that is shaped and then fried. It is basically fish sausage that is made from chopped up fish usually pollack, flounder or cod that is seasoned with bits of carrot and onion and mixed with flour to make a paste. It is then shaped into flat sheets or rods and then boiled or fried. It is then put on a skewer and heated in a seafood broth. Another version which I will talk about later is just fried.

I know, it doesn't sound amazing, but it is wonderful- especially on a cold day.
Odeng is one of the jewels of Korean nourishment for me. It tastes extraordinary, it is filling and it is unique. It is virtually accessible wherever you have a go at such as street carts, shopping centers, markets, accommodation stores and even 5-star hotels. It's a quick 2 minute meal that is somewhat healthy-especially if you have some hot fish soup to wash it down. The other great thing is that it goes great with beer and alcohol.

The great thing about odeng is that it can be shaped in any different way you can think of and it can be flavored uniquely as well. There are even bars that specialize in odeng with alcohol. These odeng are then generally struck on wooden sticks for serving. The fish glue, if you will, itself is made by manipulating the fish purée with starch such as rice flour or standard flour, sugar, salt and rice wine. Now some places will add chilies to make a spicy gochu odeng. There are also cheese filled odeng, green tea, octopus, etc. The possibilities of odeng are limited only by the imagination.
Some speciality shops will specialize in the odeng skewers but also the broth. Some tent restaurants in Seoul will make a spicy crab and mussel broth first and then cook the odeng in that. To eat the broth with seafood is the main draw for some people.

Another great dish is hottba or fish cake sausage. You'll find these in many busy traditional market areas like in Namdaemun where you'll see chefs in the middle of the street making rolls of fish cake and then frying them. You can have them plain, but you can also get the odeng wrapped around hot dogs, rice cakes, shrimp, crab stick, or with sesame leaf around them. These hottba are then skewered with a chopstick and seasoned with mustard and ketchup. It's a yummy and filling dish on the go.

Odeng doesn't always need to be on a stick either. You'll see the fish cake most often in tteokbokki, spicy rice cake noodles and often as a side dish. The side dish is easy enough to make as well. Here is a quick recipe.

1 pkg of flat fishcake sheets (odeng 오뎅). Cut the odeng into strips about the size of your index finger. Boil some water and add the odeng to the water for about 30 seconds. Take out the odeng and drain. Make a sauce that has 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 chopped Korean chili, and a pinch of red pepper flake. Add the cut odeng to a pan and stir fry with some oil for about 3 minutes. Then add the sauce and cook down for about 4 minutes. Garnish with sesame seed.