Dashi is such a great base to many many dishes – of course, especially japanese ones. Not only tasty but also nutritious it is a super easy thing to make, can be fully zero waste and frozen for your convenience to enjoy anytime. Often made with bonito flakes or dried anchovy, but I can tell you that vegan version is just as good!
Tips and insights:
- you can make cold brew dashi just by soaking the ingredients overnight
- if you are using hot method – do not bring it to boil.
- do not throw out kombu and shiitake after making dashi – you can make many tasty things from it!
- do not wash your kombu – that white salty powder covering it has a lot of flavour you don’t want to lose.
- if kombu is left soaking in the broth for too long it can start to create a jelly like texture so I recommend removing it once you have your dashi ready.
- if you cannot access kombu seaweed use kelp to make dashi – just keep in mind you might need to adjust the amount!
You will need:
- 20g dry kombu seaweed
- 30g dry shiitake mushrooms
- 1.5l water
What to do?
- first - soak your kombu and shiitake for 2 hours in a saucepan, put a plate or a smaller lid to weigh the shiitake down to soak up.
- warm everything up on a low-medium heat for around 30 min.
- do not bring your dashi to boil - if you will see it is going towards boiling reduce the heat.
- leave to cool down with a lid on, once it's cool - remove the shiitake and kombu, set them aside to use for other recipes.
your dashi is ready to use!