Dashi is a key ingredient in authentic Japanese cooking and is essential for adding flavor to dishes. It’s similar to bouillon in Western cooking, but it works differently by enhancing the natural flavors of the main ingredients.
Dashi is used in many Japanese dishes, from Gyudon (beef bowl) to hotpots and Miso soup. Without dashi, food can taste bland and lifeless.
Dashi helps bring out Umami, the fifth taste, which is rich in amino acids and adds a unique deliciousness to meals.
Here are the main ingredients used to make dashi:
- Konbu (seaweed kelp): Provides glutamate dashi.
- Katsuo (shaved bonito flakes): Provides inosinate dashi.
- Shiitake mushrooms: Also provide glutamate dashi.
- Niboshi (dried sardines): Provide inosinate dashi.
Combining these ingredients creates a richer flavor known as Awase (combined) dashi.
To make dashi, you soak and boil these ingredients to extract their flavorful amino acids. Dashi is tasty on its own, but it also enhances and balances the flavors of other ingredients in cooking.
BASIC DASHI PREPARATION
Konbu Dashi
Great for: Clear soups, Nabe hot pots, Sushi rice
Ingredients:
4 cups water
4 inch square Dashi Konbu
Preparation:
- Lightly wipe off surface of Dashi Konbu with a damp cloth. Do not wash.
- Add cold water into a saucepan. Place Konbu square into water, and let soak for one hour.
- Heat water using low heat. Just before water comes to a boil, remove Konbu and discard. Remove Dashi from heat source. Makes 4 cups.
Katsuo Dashi
Great for: Nimono, clear soups, Miso soup
Ingredients:
3-1/4 cups cold water
2/3 oz Hanakatsuo
Preparation:
- Heat water in saucepan using medium heat. Just before water comes to a boil, add Hanakatsuo.
- While water returns to boil, skim off foam that rises to the surface.
- When water reaches boiling point, remove from heat source. Cool a bit before straining Dashi with cheesecloth or paper towels. Makes about 3 cups.
Awase Dashi
Great for: Clear soups, Nimono, Noodle sauces
Ingredients:
4-1/4 cups cold water
4 inch square Dashi Konbu
2/3 oz Hanakatuso
Preparation:
- Prepare Konbu Dashi.
- Add Hanakatsuo to saucepan while returning back to a boil under medium heat. Skim off foam that rises to the surface.
- When Dashi returns to a boil, remove from heat source. Cool a bit before straining Dashi with cheesecloth or paper towels. Makes about 4 cups.