Name: How To Make Dashi - An Essential Japanese Seasoning
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Japanese • Washoku
Ingredients: 1 Liter Water; 10 g Dried Kombu (Kelp); 20 g Katsuobushi (Dried Bonito Flakes)

How To Make Dashi - An Essential Japanese Seasoning

Japanese SeasoningLow CalorieContains fishContains seaweed

In Japanese cuisine, dashi holds a central place, featuring prominently in dishes like miso soup, udon, or tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled egg omelet). Despite its fundamental role, many Japanese households opt for convenience, turning to instant dashi powders or ready-made dashi liquids rather than crafting it from scratch.

However, homemade dashi boasts distinctive advantages: unparalleled flavor, absence of artificial additives, and, notably, simplicity in preparation.

Dashi is a broth or stock created by simmering various ingredients, including dried shiitake mushrooms, dried baby sardines (Iriko or niboshi), dried kelp (Kombu), and dried bonito flakes (Katsuobushi), as seen in the photo.

Among the diverse dashi variations, Awase dashi, a seafood-based stock combining dried kelps (kombu) and dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi), stands out as the most commonly used. In this recipe, we'll show you how to make awase dashi at home easily with ingredients that you can find on Japanese Taste.

Instructions

1) Gathering the Ingredients

Gather the ingredients together.

2) Soaking the Kombu

To remove any dirt or grit, lightly wipe the kombu with a paper towel. Add water and dried kombu to a pot and set aside for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Expert's Tip

If you want to make a rich, umami-infused dashi, you'll need some good kombu. For making this recipe, we recommend using J Taste Hidaka Kombu as it adds a lot of flavor to the dashi broth. You can also use it to make vegan dashi broth.

3) Heating the Kombu

After soaking, heat it over medium heat until the water temperature reaches about 80℃. Remove the kombu from the pot and continue heating until boiling.

4) Adding the Katsuobushi

Once boiling, add katsuobushi bonito flakes and turn off the heat.

5) Straining the Dashi Broth

Let it sit for 2-3 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve lined with a paper towel or cloth.

6) Using the Dashi Broth

You should end up with approximately 700ml of dashi broth. Feel free to use it in your favorite Japanese recipes!

Megumi Moriya

Megumi is a recipe writer based in Chiba, Japan. She carries a Bachelor in the Faculty of Foreign Studies and is interested in creating content about Japanese cuisine and traditional confectioneries. Megumi is most interested in making Japanese recipe content, and in her free time, she likes to play the piano, make handcrafted goods, and hula dance. She hopes to inspire Japanese Taste readers to make Japanese recipes at home and of course share more about Japanese culture.

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