Basic Japanese Cooking: homemade fish stock - Dashi

Japanese homemade fish stock (dashi) is very easy to make compared to beef stock or chicken stock using only 2 ingredients and water. Dashi is used as a base in Japanese cooking for soups, sauces, stews and many other types of Japanese dishes so it's useful to know how to make dashi.

You can buy ready to use dashi powder called hondashi. I use it if I'm really stuck for time and my homemade dashi stock has run out! It's probably best to know that hondashi is not as healthy or tasty as homemade dashi and it contains MSG, salt and other ingredients that you'd prefer to avoid! Please click here to see a picture of hondashi so you'll be able to find it in the market.   

When I worked in Japan I lived in a small rural village so everyone in the community knew me as I was one of the few foreigners living in the area. Over time I got to know my neighbours and they became my friends. I rarely had to buy rice as my neighbour who harvested rice always called over with a bag of rice. He would get annoyed if he heard that I bought rice in the supermarket as he thought his rice was the best! I remember one of my elderly neighbours showing me how to make dashi. The only difference between her recipe and this one is that she used fish head and bones instead of katsuobushi (dried shaved bonito flakes). However, a lot of Japanese people also use katsuobushi as it's more convenient and the taste isn't as strong.

Ingredients:

1 litre water

20g of kombu (dried kelp) seaweed - the size of a postcard

20g katsuobushi (dried shaved bonito flakes)

Instructions:

1. Put 1 litre of cold water in a large saucepan.
2. Add the kombu to the water and leave it soaking for about 20 minutes. 
3. Heat the water until it comes to the boil and remove the kombu immediately.

5. Add the katsuobushi to the water and bring it to the boil again. Once the water starts to boil take it off the heat and let it sit until the katsuobushi sink to the bottom of the saucepan. 

3. Drain the dashi through a sieve lined with kitchen towel (you can store it in the fridge for about 3/ 4 days).

Tips:

1. Freeze any unused dashi in containers and ice-cube trays.
2. Wipe the kombu with a damp cloth before putting it in the water.
3. Make a weaker dashi which is called "niban dashi" with the used kombu and katsuobushi from the first dashi which is called "ichiban dashi". Simply put 1 litre of water in a large saucepan and add the used katsuobushi and kombu to the water. Heat the water and remove the kombu just before it comes to the boil. Leave the katsuobushi sitting in the water until the flakes sink to the bottom of the water. Then drain using a sieve lined with kitchen towel.  

Why not:

If you can't eat fish add shiitake mushrooms instead.

Basic Japanese cooking ingredients PART I - what they are and where you can find them

Over the last few years Japanese ingredients have become more and more available in countries outside of Japan. In Ireland you can easily find Japanese ingredients in larger supermarkets, health stores and Asian supermarkets scattered across the country. I buy most of my ingredients in the Asian Market on Drury St in Dublin (they also have another store in Merrywell Business park, Ballymount, Dublin 22). It has a great selection of Japanese ingredients at reasonable prices.

If you want to start cooking Japanese food at home you'll need some basic ingredients in your kitchen cupboard. I made a short list to begin with to keep it simple. You can always add other items to this as you start to cook more Japanese food at home. 

JAPANESE WHITE RICE

Most Japanese people eat rice at least once if not three times a day. So it's important to know how to prepare and cook Japanese rice in order to be able to enjoy a proper Japanese meal at home. Click here to go to my post "How to prepare and cook Japanese rice". 

I buy the Sun Clad Shinode brand of Japanese white rice. It's a large 10 kilo bag and costs just under 20 euro which is very reasonable. If you don't eat a lot of rice then you can buy a smaller bag which they started to stock recently. Superquinn also stock the smaller bag of Shinode sushi rice.

JAPANESE SOYA SAUCE

I prefer to use Japanese soya sauce when I'm cooking Japanese food. I buy Kikkoman Japanese soya sauce with less salt. It's ok to use other types of soya sauce however for authentic Japanese taste I'd recommend using Japanese soya sauce if you can get it.

JAPANESE RICE VINEGAR

Again, I prefer to use Japanese rice vinegar when cooking Japanese foods. Rice vinegar is mostly used to make sushi, Japanese salad dressings and some sauces.

JAPANESE SAKE

The Japanese use sake the same way as we use wine when cooking in the West. Sake is an alcoholic drink made from rice and adds a nice taste to Japanese dishes. It's not necessary to buy an expensive bottle if you're only using it for cooking.

JAPANESE MIRIN

This is a sweet rice wine with a lower alcohol content than sake. It's used for cooking in Japan and adds a nice sweet balance to Japanese dishes. 

JAPANESE FISH STOCK - DASHI

This is Japanese cooking stock. You can buy instant dashi granules like the one pictured below or you can make dashi from scratch. It's worth making homemade dashi if you have time as it tastes better and is healthier than the instant dashi. Click here to see my recipe for Japanese homemade fish stock.

JAPANESE MISO
Miso is made from fermented soya beans. There are many different types of miso and the miso colour can vary from light brown to dark red/brown. Generally the lighter the colour the milder the taste. So if you're new to Japanese food then I'd start off with a lighter colour one. Once miso is opened it should be stored in the refrigerator and can be stored there for a long time (I'm not sure how long exactly but a year anyway!). Click here to see my recipe for "Miso Shiru - Japanese Miso Soup".