#3 Dashi, an essential element in Japanese cooking
The Key to Flavor in Japanese Cooking.
When I was a child, I used to help my grandmother shave large blocks of bonito flakes to make fresh dashi for miso soup. The miso soup made with my grandmother's homemade miso and freshly shaved bonito had an incredibly rich aroma, and it was one of my absolute favorites.
Nowadays, with our busy lifestyles, it's become less common for people to shave bonito flakes at home to make miso soup. Instead, granulated dashi or tea bags filled with powdered bonito, kelp, and dried sardines have become more popular, making it easier for people to make dashi at home. To be honest, most people in Japan now use these convenient methods for everyday cooking.
By the way, in Berlin, where I live, it's not easy to find convenient dashi tea bags. (And even if they are available, they're usually too expensive for daily use.) So, I buy kombu and bonito flakes from an Asian supermarket and make my own dashi for miso soup, udon, and soba. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, and the flavor is much more authentic and umami-rich compared to instant granulated dashi. I really want to encourage everyone to give it a try! You'll find that once you get the hang of it, it’s totally worth the effort. And trust me, many of my future recipes will be using plenty of dashi, so learning the basics will be super useful!
Before diving into the recipes, let's talk a little bit about dashi.
Dashi plays an incredibly important role in Japanese cooking. It’s the foundation for creating depth in flavor and enhancing the taste of ingredients. From miso soup to udon, soba, and hot pots, dashi is used in a wide range of dishes. The most basic type of dashi is awase dashi, which is made from bonito flakes and kombu. This is the go-to dashi used in many recipes. You can also add niboshi (dried sardines) to enhance the fishy flavor if you like.
Then there's shojin dashi, a vegetarian/vegan-friendly dashi made without any meat or fish. This type of dashi, based on Buddhist shojin cuisine, is made using plant-based ingredients like kombu, shiitake mushrooms, and vegetables, making it perfect for those following vegan or vegetarian diets.
Making dashi is the foundation of Japanese cooking. It’s the first step to creating delicious, authentic Japanese dishes at home. The difference in flavor compared to granulated dashi is astonishing, and once you master the basics of dashi, you'll really be able to enjoy that deep, umami-packed taste.
Today, I’m going to share with you the recipe for the basic awase dashi (bonito and kombu dashi) as well as a vegan-friendly shojin dashi.
How to make awase dashi (kombu and bonito dashi)
[ Ingredients ]
1 liter (4 cups) water *If you use hard water, it may not extract the flavor of the kombu properly. Using soft water, like Volvic, will help bring out a richer umami flavor.
10 g kelp – kombu
10 g dried bonito flakes – katsuobushi
[ Directions ]
Soak the kelp in water for more than 30 minutes to extract its umami before heating.
Heat slowly at a slightly higher than low temperature for about 10 minutes, just before boiling.
Remove the kelp, bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat.
Add the bonito flakes and bring the pot to a boil again over medium to high heat.
Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes to extract the flavor.
Turn off the heat and strain through a tea strainer or fine colander lined with kitchen paper. Let it filter naturally without squeezing if you prefer a clear and translucent dashi.
Once cooled, store in the refrigerator and use within 2-3 days.
How to make shojin dashi (vegetarian or vegan dashi)
[ Ingredients ]
1 liter (4 cups) water *If you use hard water, it may not extract the flavor of the kombu properly. Using soft water, like Volvic, will help bring out a richer umami flavor.
10g (1/4 oz) dried shiitake mashrooms
5g (1/8 oz) dried kelp - kombu
[ Directions ]
Making shojin dashi is surprisingly easy. Simply place the shiitake mushrooms and kombu into a glass jar or pot, add water, and leave it overnight. The umami will slowly infuse, allowing the flavors of the kombu and shiitake to develop, resulting in a rich and flavorful dashi.
If you can't wait overnight, you can pour hot water instead of cold, and leave it for 2-3 hours.
If you have leftover dashi, you can store it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days with the kombu and shiitake still in the liquid.
In the next newsletter, I'll be sharing a soba recipe using this dashi. In Japan, it's customary to eat "Toshikoshi soba" (New Year's Eve soba) as part of the year's end celebrations. I'll also be sharing how we typically spend this time of year.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to sharing more with you soon.
Best,
Tomoyo