The Ultimate Dashi Guide
Dashi (だし, 出汁) or Dashijiru (出し汁) is Japanese soup stock that is the backbone of many Japanese dishes. It is all-important and indispensable, and you can trace its existence in Japanese daily cooking back to the Edo period (17th Century)
Below is the ultimate guide to Dashi and making a bowl of Dashi Ramen.
What is dashi?
It is a soup stock made of infusions of foods that are rich in umami, including bonito fish flakes, dried kombu kelp seaweed, dried shiitake mushrooms, and dried whole sardines. Dashi makes up the liquid base in most savory Japanese dishes, including miso soup, udon, and ramen noodle dishes, and nabe stews. It is also used as a seasoning in dishes like tamagoyaki omelets and seaweed salads. Dashi is what gives these dishes that unique, slightly seafood-like, umami flavor that is most readily associated with Japanese cuisine.
What Does Dashi Taste Like?
All the dried ingredients that are used to make Japanese soup stock are rich in naturally occurring glutamates and provide intense flavor to the stock. Dashi creates a savory umami flavor from all these ingredients and you don’t need to season the food as much once you have a good stock.
With a distinctive sweet and savory note, the deep umami flavor is what set dashi apart from other stocks.
How to Make Dashi Ramen
Ingredients:
Broth:
- 3 large pieces of kombu (can be found at any Asian grocery)
- 1 ounce shiitake dried mushrooms
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 inches ginger, chopped
- 10 cups water
- 3-4 dried bird chilis (opt.)
- 2/3 cup dried bonito flakes (can be found at any Asian grocery)
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
Other Ingredients:
- Ramen Noodles (1pk/bowl) BUY NOW>>
- Seared Tofu (3 ounces/bowl)
- Seared baby bok choy (1/2 head/bowl)
- 1 Ramen egg/bowl See recipe>>
- Chopped scallions
- Mirin, Soy Sauce, Sake to taste
Directions
Broth (1hr)
- When you are making the broth, you don’t want your water to be boiling. It should be just below a simmer point.
- Add the kombu, mushrooms, ginger, garlic, and chilis and let it steep for about 30 minutes.
- After thirty minutes or so, you can go ahead and remove the kombu. They will be huge after expanding in the water. They’ve contributed all they can to the broth at this point.
- Add all the bonito flakes
- Simmer about four minutes. Strain out the bits.
- Cook down to at least half.
- Season the broth with soy sauce, sake, mirin, and rice wine vinegar as it reduces.
Toppings (10min)
- As the broth gets to the reduced level, go ahead and sear some firm tofu and baby bok choy
- Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat and added a drizzle of oil. Cook some baby bok choy, cut-side down in the skillet for about four minutes until nicely seared.
- Do the same to the tofu , 4min per side.
- Boil the noodles for 2minutes, rinse in cold water.
Assemble
- Now place noodles, tofu and bok choy in bowls.
- Heat up the Dashi just under a rolling boil.
- Ladel soup over the bowls until all the items are covered.
- Sprinkle sesame, chopped scallion, and add a ramen egg
- ENJOY
