Dashi: Making Your Own

In authentic Japanese cuisine, few ingredients hold as much significance and flavour as dashi.

This foundational broth, essential to many traditional Japanese dishes, forms the backbone of authentic Japanese cuisine, infusing dishes with depth and umami. Particularly unmissable in rice dishes and soups, dashi is the heart and soul of Japanese cooking.

For those venturing into the world of Japanese food, this blog should help you understand all about dashi, its delicious flavour, and how to make it yourselves if you wish.

Read on to find out more!

Make your own dashi

For culinary enthusiasts, we'd highly recommend making your own dashi from scratch if you can. It's a rewarding (and tasty) labour of love - and not tricky to make, either.

Here's a simple, time-honoured method to create your own dashi:

1. Gather your dashi ingredients: Start with high-quality kombu (dried kelp) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). The ratio typically used is one piece of kombu (about 10 grams) to every 4 cups (1 litre) of water, along with around 10 grams of katsuobushi.
2. Soak the kombu: Place the kombu in a pot of cold water and allow it to soak for at least 30 minutes, though overnight soaking is ideal for getting the most flavour.
3. Simmer gently: Place the pot over low to medium heat and gradually bring it to a gentle simmer. Just before the water reaches a boil, remove the kombu. This prevents bitterness from releasing into the broth.
4. Add the katsuobushi: Once the kombu is removed, add the katsuobushi to the pot and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Avoid boiling vigorously, as this can result in a cloudy broth.
   
5. Strain and serve: After simmering, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool slightly. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth to remove any solids, yielding a clear, flavourful dashi broth.
6. Optional extras: For an extra layer of depth, consider adding dried shiitake mushrooms or dried anchovies to the simmering broth, or experimenting with different varieties of kelp and bonito fish flakes to tailor the flavour to your liking.

Buy ready-made dashi

For those with busy schedules or complete beginners in Japanese cooking, opting for ready-made dashi is a convenient solution. With ready-made dashi, it's easy to add a burst of flavour into simmered dishes, or to mix a splash with soy sauce, rice vinegar and mirin for a delicious dipping sauce.

Be sure to buy your ready-made dashi from authentic Japanese retailers, such as The Wasabi Company, so not to sacrifice authenticity or flavour.

Whereas home cooks in the UK often rely solely on substitutions such as dried bonito powder, you can't beat real dashi stock from Japan. That's why we import a variety of restaurant-quality dashis in concentrated liquid form, requiring only hot water to dilute.

Whereas traditional dashi is made with kombu and katsuobushi, we also offer concentrated vegan dashi made with shiitake mushrooms and other natural flavour enhancers.

Try real dashi, and create the authentic flavour you've been missing in your miso soup, shoyu ramen, kaki udon and more.

Buy dashi from The Wasabi Company

We have many high-quality dashi options for you to try, including kombu dashi such as Superior Dashi Sachets from Makurazaki, Concentrated Dashi Stock, and Concentrated White Dashi.

Vegetarians and vegans don't have to miss out on any flavour, either, with our range of shiitake dashi. Our Vegetarian Dashi Sachets with Vegetables from Aomori, Hokusai Vegan Dashi, Concentrated Vegan Dashi and Vegetable Dashi with Kombu and Shiitake are all delicious, fish-free options.

Plus, with our range of Wadakyu Katsuobushi, Atsukezuri Katsuobushi and Kombu, it's easier than ever to make authentic Japanese dashi from the comfort of your own kitchen.

Order Japanese ingredients from The Wasabi Company today - and start your dashi journey.