Ingredients that one must have on hand to create authentic Japanese cuisine at home:
Must Have Basics:
Nice to have:
REALLY nice to have:
Must Have Basics:
- Dashi
- Mirin
- Nori - roasted seaweed
- Konbu – dried kelp seaweed; a different type of seaweed from Nori
- Tofu
- Sesame Oil
- Soy Sauce/Shoyu
- Sake (cooking sake, not drinking sake)
- Japanese short grain rice
- Rice Vinegar
- Katsuobushi - dried Bonito fish flakes
Nice to have:
- Roasted black sesame seeds
- Ground sesame powder (Gomashio)
- Japanese pepper powder (Shichimi)
- Dried Shitake Mushrooms
REALLY nice to have:
- Wasabi – the authentic wasabi root that has been grated
- Yuzu Kosho
- Yuzu juice
- Artisanal Japanese sea salt
"I always have dashi in my refrigerator - it's the almighty Japanese ingredient."
Masaharu Morimoto
Dashi is the foundation of traditional Japanese cooking, used in everything from fish-poaching liquids to salad dressings. You simply cannot create Japanese cuisine without dashi.
Dashi is surprisingly, a very simple stock made with katsuobushi (dried bonito fish flakes) and kombu (dried leaves of kelp which is a thick seaweed). Dashi forms the base for almost every Japanese dish from the ubiquitous miso soup, shabu shabu, sukiyaki, to complex Kaiseki-style compositions. The ingredients, kombu and katsuobushi, are both extremely high in flavor compounds known as glutamates which produces a savory taste known as umami, the so-called fifth flavor. The fish is smoked and dried into a hard block and then finely shaved to be used in making dashi soup or as a condiment.
Dashi can be found in several forms – as instant bouillon granules, premade dashi powder packets, or of course, made from scratch using katsuobushi and konbu. While it is quite simple to make dashi from scratch, it does take some steps and mindfulness to get it right. Purists will want to make their own dashi from scratch using dried pieces of kombu leaves and handfuls of katsuobushi flakes which must be gently steeped and then strained.
Here is a great recipe to make dashi from scratch www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi/
Premade dashi will usually come in two forms: instant powder granules that dissolve directly in water or pouches (similar to large tea bags) containing the ground ingredients for dashi that are then steeped in hot water to produce the stock. I find the instant granules are better to use to enhance a dish’s flavor by sprinkling to taste without having to dilute a dish with more liquid. If you go to any Asian grocery store you will most likely be able to find instant dashi powder packets quite easily. The caveat ,or downside, is that most of these dashi products will be of low quality and contain MSG. The brand Hon-dashi seems to be most widely available but it contains quite a bit of MSG. If you are lucky enough to live near a Japanese grocery store, you will have a better chance of finding higher quality instant dashi without MSG.
In my opinion, the dashi pouches are better for making stocks. When I want to make a clear stock say for a simple miso soup with mushrooms, I steep the pouches in near boiling water. Sometimes, I like to make a more “rugged” soup so I will tear open the pouches and add the dashi ingredients directly to the water. (A trick I learned from my MIL). While high quality dashi pouches will produce a fragrant, savory broth that is almost as good as making it from scratch, the really good quality pouches can be hard to find.
My favorite brand of dashi pouches is Kayanoya which is a premium brand of dashi and can only be purchased in Japan. If you are lucky, you will have access to a Nijiya Japanese market which is the only store that I know of that carries the Kayanoya brand and other good quality dashis. If you are REALLY lucky, you will have opportunities to go to Japan and stock up on premium dashi!
Dashi can also be made from other ingredients or the additional ingredients can be added to the kombu and katsuobushi. For example, dried shitake mushrooms can be added for more umami dimension. Likewise, if you prefer a vegetarian dashi , it can be made with just with dried shitake mushrooms and kombu sans katsuobushi/dried bonito. If you prefer a stronger taste, you can also use dried anchovies known as iriko, instead of katsuobushi.
I hope you have a better understanding of what dashi is and how it can be used and encourage you experiment cooking with dashi even in non Japanese dishes where the recipe calls for a stock.
Dashi is surprisingly, a very simple stock made with katsuobushi (dried bonito fish flakes) and kombu (dried leaves of kelp which is a thick seaweed). Dashi forms the base for almost every Japanese dish from the ubiquitous miso soup, shabu shabu, sukiyaki, to complex Kaiseki-style compositions. The ingredients, kombu and katsuobushi, are both extremely high in flavor compounds known as glutamates which produces a savory taste known as umami, the so-called fifth flavor. The fish is smoked and dried into a hard block and then finely shaved to be used in making dashi soup or as a condiment.
Dashi can be found in several forms – as instant bouillon granules, premade dashi powder packets, or of course, made from scratch using katsuobushi and konbu. While it is quite simple to make dashi from scratch, it does take some steps and mindfulness to get it right. Purists will want to make their own dashi from scratch using dried pieces of kombu leaves and handfuls of katsuobushi flakes which must be gently steeped and then strained.
Here is a great recipe to make dashi from scratch www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi/
Premade dashi will usually come in two forms: instant powder granules that dissolve directly in water or pouches (similar to large tea bags) containing the ground ingredients for dashi that are then steeped in hot water to produce the stock. I find the instant granules are better to use to enhance a dish’s flavor by sprinkling to taste without having to dilute a dish with more liquid. If you go to any Asian grocery store you will most likely be able to find instant dashi powder packets quite easily. The caveat ,or downside, is that most of these dashi products will be of low quality and contain MSG. The brand Hon-dashi seems to be most widely available but it contains quite a bit of MSG. If you are lucky enough to live near a Japanese grocery store, you will have a better chance of finding higher quality instant dashi without MSG.
In my opinion, the dashi pouches are better for making stocks. When I want to make a clear stock say for a simple miso soup with mushrooms, I steep the pouches in near boiling water. Sometimes, I like to make a more “rugged” soup so I will tear open the pouches and add the dashi ingredients directly to the water. (A trick I learned from my MIL). While high quality dashi pouches will produce a fragrant, savory broth that is almost as good as making it from scratch, the really good quality pouches can be hard to find.
My favorite brand of dashi pouches is Kayanoya which is a premium brand of dashi and can only be purchased in Japan. If you are lucky, you will have access to a Nijiya Japanese market which is the only store that I know of that carries the Kayanoya brand and other good quality dashis. If you are REALLY lucky, you will have opportunities to go to Japan and stock up on premium dashi!
Dashi can also be made from other ingredients or the additional ingredients can be added to the kombu and katsuobushi. For example, dried shitake mushrooms can be added for more umami dimension. Likewise, if you prefer a vegetarian dashi , it can be made with just with dried shitake mushrooms and kombu sans katsuobushi/dried bonito. If you prefer a stronger taste, you can also use dried anchovies known as iriko, instead of katsuobushi.
I hope you have a better understanding of what dashi is and how it can be used and encourage you experiment cooking with dashi even in non Japanese dishes where the recipe calls for a stock.
 Kayonoya Kayanoya is a very popular brand of premade dashi pouches. As of this writing, it can only be purchased in Japan. But if you would like to try this amazing dashi, please complete this simple survey and you will be entered to win an entire package Kayanoya dashi. Retail, this costs about $20 or more in Japan! |
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