Dashi is Japanese stock, which becomes the base of many Japanese dishes, such as soup, dipping sauce, and nimono (simmered dishes). Since dashi is often used in Japanese cooking, it’s useful to know how to make it. There are different kinds of dashi. It can be made from kombu (dried kelp), katsuo-bushi (dried bonito flakes), niboshi (dried small sardines), hoshi-shiitake (dried shiitake mushrooms), and more. Kombu dashi and dried shiitake mushroom dashi are known as good vegetarian stocks. It might take extra effort to make dashi, but good dashi makes your Japanese dishes taste much better. Recipes on next page.

Japanese dashi is best used on the day it’s made. If you have some leftover dashi, keep it in a covered container. It can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

This is a recipe to make dashi using kombu (kelp) and katuobushi (dried bonito flakes).

Ingredients:
8 inch kombu (dried kelp), cut in half
2/3 oz. katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
4 and 1/4 cups water

Preparation:
Wipe the kombu with clean cloth. Put water in a deep pot and soak kombu in the water for about 10 minutes. Put the pot on low heat and remove the kombu just before the water boils. Add katsuobushi. Remove any foam that rises to the surface, and turn off the heat. Let it set until bonito flakes sink. Place a paper towel in a colander and strain the stock through it. This stock is called ichiban-dashi (first stock). *Makes 4 cups

To make niban-dashi (second dashi), put back the katsuobushi and kombu used to make the first dashi in the deep pot. Add about 2 and 1/2 cups of water and heat on low heat. When it starts to boil, add 1/3 oz. of extra katsuobushi flakes. Let it simmer for a few minutes, removing any foam that rises to the surface. Stop the heat. Place a paper towel in a colander and strain the stock through it. Nibandashi is often used to make nimono (simmered dishes). *Makes about 2 cups