List Of 5 Delicious Dishes We Can Make from Dashi

Have you ever tasted authentic Japanese dishes like Miso soup, Chawanmushi, Ramen, and Shabu Shabu? 

These are the Japanese dishes that have a unique savory taste you cannot resist. This rich, savory flavor comes from an authentic Japanese stock or broth named dashi, a popular umami food.

With the globe coming closer, many parts across different continents have intermingled so much that, nowadays, we can see many cultural, traditional and regional aspects being accepted mutually.

Likewise, Japanese dashi is getting widely popular in American cuisines and traditional recipes. We will learn more from this article.

What Is Dashi?

Dashi refers to a family of stocks used as a base in traditional Japanese cuisine. Its rich taste gives an ultimate flavor to any dish it is added to. This flavor is so irresistibly delicious that you cannot just ignore it.

Though it is made of different ingredients, they are all praised for that one common umami flavor they have. Umami flavor is widely known for its rich, savory taste, which lasts even after a while of your meal. 

Umami is the fifth and latest discovered taste apart from sweet, salty, bitter and sour. It is the primary source of the amino acid glutamate and was discovered in 1908 by Dr Kikunae Ikeda.

He proved the link between glutamate and kombu, which is seaweed and one of the sources to make dashi with his studies.

Dashi can be added to give your regular dish a tasty kick, something that may enhance the flavor and make it irresistible. In Japanese households, you may find a stored stock of dashi for regular use. It is commonly paired with savory ingredients to add a meaty flavor to meatless foods.

What Is Dashi Made Of?

Unlike other cuisine soup stocks that are usually prepared by boiling meat, vegetables and spices for several hours, Japanese dashi takes no longer than half an hour. It usually uses two or more ingredients to release out the typical umami sensation. For example, Kombu and bonito flakes provide two different sources of umami, glutamate amino acid from the kombu and inosinic acid from the bonito flakes, making it a perfect umami food.

In simple terms, it is a group of broths that are made from soaking different ingredients in water and then squeezing out the stock.

Check out these different types of dashi’s classified based on their different sources.

Kombu dashi 

It is prepared by soaking and then simmering kelp, seaweed in the water. Kombu dashi becomes bitter & unpalatable when boiled. It is better to go the traditional way.

Niboshi dashi

It is prepared by separating the heads and entrails of small dried sardines to prevent bitterness while soaking the rest in water. Sometimes the heads could also be used as per your choice.

Shiitake dashi

It is prepared by soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in water. Dried shiitake is preferred over fresh ones due to a more substantial presence of savory umami flavors accumulated in it with time.

Soaking of various ingredients in water helps the savory flavor to release out and get dissolved in the water. The water can be either cold or hot, depending on the type of dashi we are making. The brewing process almost takes the same time for dashi.

The easiest and most vegan form of dashi is made from soaking kombu in cold water. Kombu is seaweed and a source of umami flavor. This is the mildest, yet tasty, version of dashi.

When prepared using other ingredients like dried shrimp, bonito flakes, dried sardines, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried scallops, adzuki beans, toasted soybeans, the dashi we get is much stronger and tastier. Dried and fermented fish like tuna, sardines and mackerel all make one of the superior quality dashi.

It is used as a base for several Japanese soups like miso soup, broth soup, noodle broth soups in order to enhance the umami flavor in the soups. 

Delicious Dishes You Can Make from Dashi

As we saw earlier, Japanese cuisine and Japanese seasonings have reached the western markets and are getting popular day by day. This considerable popularity encouraged us to create new fusions with American foods or recipes and Japanese dashi together.

Let’s see some of the best American dishes made of a dashi.

Buffalo Sushi

This is a fusion recipe of Japanese and American flavors. Fresh vegetables and buffalo peanuts specially made spicy and crunchy are wrapped in dashi seasoned rice and then lightly showered with a creamy sauce made from sunflower seeds. Serve this fantastic meal in a rice bowl. The dashi seasoning or stock used here is preferably made of meat, particularly red meat.

Miso Lentil Soup

This Miso Lentil Soup is one of the most delicious starts of your meal, and we have tried preparing this particular dish with an addition of delicious lentils and dashi stock to the traditional soup recipe. In addition to miso, this flavorful broth contains ginger, soy sauce, onion, rice vinegar and most importantly, dashi stock. Simmer all the ingredients in a slow-cooker and serve hot.

Barbecue Spaghetti

Traditionally it is Spaghetti noodles topped with a sauce made from smoked pork, vegetables, and barbecue sauce. But now you can try using dashi. A touch of dashi stock will give an extraordinary smoky, savory taste to your dish. Barbecue spaghetti can be made with pulled pork or shredded smoked pork. The sauce is sautéed sometimes with onions and peppers and then simmered before adding the pork. The consistency resembles barbecue sauce. The spaghetti is cooked until soft, then tossed in the hot sauce. This dish is served as a side dish or as a main course.

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Shiitake Mushroom Sauce

This is one of the most famous American recipes made of shiitake mushrooms. These mushrooms are themselves a rich source of umami flavor. 

The beef steaks are sautéed in cooking spray to create a crunchy crust, with the mushrooms being sauteed in butter for flavor. Shiitake mushrooms help make a sauce with a deep, earthy savory flavor, which we all know to be umami. Serve with mashed potatoes and Broccolini.

The dashi we will be using here is shiitake dashi. It is made by soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in water. Dried shiitake is preferred over fresh due to a stronger presence of savory or umami flavors.

Manhattan Clam Chowder

Manhattan clam chowder has a red, tomato-based broth. Usually, the clam chowders are made of milk, but the addition of tomatoes in place of milk was initially the work of Portuguese Immigrants. 

Clam chowder is a variety of chowder soups in American cuisine containing clams and broth or milk. In addition to clams, common ingredients include diced potatoes, salt pork, onions, and celery. Here we have tried twisting the traditional recipe a bit, with our addition of dashi stock instead of tomato broth. Though both tomato and dashi stock may give out the umami flavor, it tastes much better with dashi stock.

Takeaway

We have tried to mix up the flavors of two different cultures: Japanese and American. The fusion came out excellent. When American recipes were tossed with authentic Japanese dashi stock, the result was a long-lasting relishing umami flavor. You should definitely try out some of the dishes and let us know what you think.