How to Make Dashi – Basic and Advanced Recipe

In a lot of Japanese recipes, dashi is the key ingredient. Dashi is a fish and seaweed flavored stock. Without dashi, no miso soup. Reason enough to learn more about it and how to make it.

Types of Dashi

There are many types of dashi, which can be used for different culinary purposes. Basically, a dashi stock which is created from flakes of dried bonito (katsuobushi) would be called katsuo dashi. It’s usually used for noodle soup or clear soup. Other popular dashi types are:

• •Ichiban dashi – First brewed. This is for noodle soup or clear soup.
• •Niban dashi – Second brewed. This is for general use.
• •Konbu dashi – for tofu and nabemono
• •Niboshi dashi – ideal for miso soup

Now, let’s learn how to cook your own dashi.

Dashi Recipe 1: Katsuo Dashi

Yields: Servings of about 3 cups

Ingredients

Dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi) – 2/3 oz

Water – 3 1/4 cups

Directions

Pour water inside a deep pot and heat on medium-level heat. Just before the water starts boiling, add the flakes of katsuobushi. Take away any froth which would rise to the pot’s surface when the water boils. Turn off the heat. Get a paper towel to strain the stock. Let it rest for at least an hour.

That’s it.  You can keep your katsuo dashi for up to 5 days in the fridge, just seal it well. Now let’s go for something more tricky:

Recipe 2: Dashi for Miso Soup

Preparation Time: 3 hours
Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Materials and Ingredients

1 medium-sized bowl

Sieve – 1, muslin-lined

1 big saucepan

Water – 5ml, cold

Flakes of dried bonito – 20g, smoked

Dried kelp – 20g

Water – 1 liter

Directions

Soak the kelp. In a large saucepan, pour one liter of water. Place the kelp inside and let it soak for about two hours. This would give the kelp time to properly expand. Don’t let it soak for too long, though. Soaking the kelp for over 5 hours will make just it bitter. Put saucepan in high heat. Before the water starts boiling, use chopsticks or other utensils to take away the kelp. Allow the water to continue boiling for another minute. After turning the heat off, pour in the cold water to allow so it will cool quickly.

Bonito flakes. Add the bonito flakes. Leave it to soak for approximately 15 minutes. This will give time for all the flakes to sink to the bottom.
Straining time. Get the cloth and put it over the bowl. Strain the dashi. When straining is done, gather each corner of the cloth and lift carefully. This way, you’ll be creating a pouch containing the flakes of dried bonito. Gently squeeze the cloth. Don’t wring or press too hard. Just let the water drip.