Dashi Stock

Dashi stock is a base for many soups and sauces in Japanese and Korean cuisines. Think miso soup. Tempura dipping sauce. Udon noodle broth. Ponzu. Chawan mushi. All these contain dashi.

You will be surprised how easy it is to make. The only challenge is finding ingredients. Check Asian supermarkets like Uwajimaya, HT Market and Ranch 99.  Very likely that Central Market has them too. And, probably, also does Whole Foods, though I’m not 100% sure about that one.

This is what you will be looking for:

• Dried Kelp (dashi kombu or dashi konbu)
• Bonito flakes/dried shaved bonito (katsuo-bushi or kezuri-bushi) for Japanese dashi
• Dried boiled anchovies/sardines for Korean dashi

 Here's how they can look:

For a basic Japanese dashi you will need:

• 6 cups water
• A piece of dried kelp (dashi kombu), about 4 x 7 inches
• 0.5-0.7 oz/15-20 g (3-4 5g bags) bonito flakes 

Gently wipe kelp with a damp paper towel like you would clean mushrooms. Pour the water into a pot and soak the kelp for about an hour or so. It will expand significantly during this time. Start heating the pot slowly on a medium-low heat to extract more flavor from the kelp. When the water is about to simmer, remove the kelp and either discard it or use for so-called “second” dashi, a weaker flavored stock.

Add bonito flakes to the pot and remove from the heat. Let the flakes sit in the stock for about 10-15 minutes. They will float on the surface at first and eventually will sink. Strain the stock through a sieve lined with a paper towel.

Sometimes, I substitute all or a part of bonito flakes or kelp with a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms.

Korean dashi uses dried anchovies instead of bonito flakes. For 6 cups of water take about ¼ cup of dried anchovies.

 In soup isles of Asian stores you can also find freeze-dried granulated dashi stock called dashi-no-moto or hon-dashi. They are obviously the fastest way to cook dashi stock, though some of them may contain undesirable or controversial ingredients like monosodium glutamate, so make sure to check the ingredients on labels before buying.