What is dashi?
Dashi is cooking broth made of infusions of bonito flakes, dried kombu (kelp), dried sardine, and dried shiitake mushroom. If you love Japanese cuisine and are willing to try cooking yourself, you can’t miss the Dashi broth. It’s the base of many Japanese dishes and the source of umami flavor. It won’t be the same without Dashi broth, for sure!
5 Types of Dashi
DDashi is simple to make, and it can be made in less than 30 minutes. This is no wonder why Japanese people don’t mind using it for most of their dishes. (Well, now these days are much easier, you can buy instant dashi at any supermarket in Japan.) There are different kinds of Dashi broth, so let’s go through major dashi broths in Japan.
1. Katsuo Dashi
Ingredients are just bonito flakes and water. Katsuo dashi has a rich flavor and plain taste. Katsuo contains inosinic acids, so combining that with glutamic acid in beans, seaweed, dairy products, and vegetables makes more umami.
2. Kombu Dashi
Ingredients are just dried kombu (kelp) and water. Kombu dashi has a mild flavor and plain taste. Kombu contains glutamic acids, which are the basis of umami. Combine that with the inosinic acid in meat, fish, and shellfish to create a synergistic umami effect.
3. Awase Dashi
Ingredients are bonito flakes, kombu, and water. Awase dashi is the most common dashi you can use for any Japanese cuisine. Combining Katsuo and Kombu makes dashi more enriched.
4. Iriko Dashi
Ingredients are dried sardine and water. Iriko dashi is similar to Katsuo dashi but has a strong fishier flavor.
5. Shiitake Dashi
Ingredients are dried shiitake mushroom and water. Shiitake mushroom contains guanylin acids and combines that with glutamic acid in beans, seaweed, daily products, and vegetables create a synergistic umami effect.
How to Use these Dashi
1. Katsuo Dashi
Katsuo dashi is mainly used for vegetable dishes and soup.
2. Kombu Dashi
Kombu dashi can be used for Nabe(hot pot), a tofu dish, steamed egg hotchpotch, and vinegared dish.
3. Awase Dashi
Awase dashi is the most common dashi and is used for any dish if you like.
4. Iriko Dashi
Iriko dashi is mainly used for soup and noodle soup such as udon and soba.
5. Shiitake Dashi
You can use shiitake dashi with any dish if you like the shiitake mushroom flavor!
If you can handle these five different dashi types, homemade Japanese cuisine will be more effortless. Also, you can be creative and mix different dashi to make your favorite dashi.
I like nabe with Kombu dashi because I add various ingredients to it, like different types of mushrooms, fish, and meat.
Now it’s time to find out what dashi and dish go well for you.
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