What is Dashi? And can you make a vegetarian dashi?
When I was looking for the recipe for the soup base for Udon noodles, I ran into one recipe after the next calling for “dashi”, which has always seemed to be so vague as to almost mean “sauce”. After finally looking it up, I see that this is partly true.
It didn’t used to be this way. Classic dashi was a simple stock made with dried kelp, sardines, and tuna. A later addition is dried shitaki mushrooms. There are many pre-made dashi preparations available, either dried or as a concenerated liquid, but the ingredients are easy to keep on hand and dashi is so simple to make that it is silly to buy it.
To make the simplest vegetarian dashi, you only need the kelp, or kombu. Use a 12″ piece and put it in about 2 cups of water, covered, and put it in the fridge overnight. You can cut the kombu with kitchen shears if it is too long. If you want a stronger broth, add a few dried shitaki mushroom caps to the water.
Remove the seaweed and mushrooms, if using. Reserve the mushrooms for use in cooking later that day or the next. You can keep the dashi in a sealed container in the refrigerator for about five days, or freeze it.
There is a reason why I am going on about the dashi. It is the basis of so many Japanese recipes, just as stock is basic in western cooking. And I’m posting a miso soup recipe that I made tonight that starts with dashi, as real miso soup should. So get ready.
Date: May 5, 2010