Dashi is Japanese leading stock, which becomes the base of many more Japanese dishes, such as soup, dipping sauce, batters, and nimono (simmered dishes). Since dashi is often used in Japanese cooking, it's useful to know how to make it as well as know it comes in a time saving powdered instant form.
There are different kinds of dashi. It can be made from Kombu, Katsuobushi or Bonito Flakes, Dried Sardines and/or dried shiitake mushrooms. All these flavors are rich in Umami or a subtle delicious flavor.
Traditional Dashi is made by infusing fish-flakes and kombu seaweed into a tea-like broth with a wonderful imparted flavor. Boiling has been used as a cooking method in Japan since the Neolithic Jomon period (10,000-3,000 BC), when broth obtained from boiling animal proteins were used to flavor various dishes.
The Dashi technique emerged later, when cooks began to make stock using ingredients such as dried fish or mountain birds, and by the seventh century, konbu kelp and katsuobushi dried bonito were being used to flavor soup stock as they currently are today. This method was later improved during the Edo period (1603-1867) and it made the soup stock an integral part of Japanese cooking.
Vegetarian versions of dashi broth can utilize just the kombu for a subtle flavor or substitute dried shiitake mushrooms for katsuobushi. The mushroom flavor seems more pleasing to Western palates and allows for the deliciousness of the umami rich broth to be added to non-fish dishes.
Ichiban Dashi
Be careful not to boil katsuobushi it will make stock slimy
- 3 1/2 quarts water
- 1 strip kombu ( 6 inches)
- 1 cup flaked katsuobushi
Directions:
- Take water and add kombu in a stock pot over medium high heat
- When it boils remove the kelp.
- Add preflaked katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), and turn off heat
- Allow to sit for two minutes and then strain through cheesecloth
Vegetarian Shiitake Dashi
- 1 strip Kombu seaweed (about 6 inches
- 4 each dried shiitake mushrooms
- 6 cups boiling water
- Soak the kombu and shiitakes in the hot water for a minimum of 30 minutes, or preferably, for several hours or overnight.
- Remove the shiitakes and discard the stems, and thinly slicing the caps. Return the caps to the water and heat, uncovered, over medium heat.
- Watching the pot and remove the kombu just before the water boils. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove the mushrooms from the broth. Reserve the kombu and shiitake for another use.
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