Homemade Dashi Broth
A traditional base for soups in Japan, dashi is made from seaweed and bonito flakes, or shaved flakes of dried skipjack tuna, which you can find at many supermarkets and health foods stores as well as Asian markets. Mild in flavor, dashi makes for a clear broth with faint, subtle notes of smoke and fish.
I like to keep dashi on hand, tucked in the back of my fridge, so that I can pull it out at any moment and make a fast miso soup or use it to make these braised chicken thighs.
Recipe from Broth & Stock from the Nourished Kitchen, by Jennifer McGruther.
How to Make Dashi Broth at Home
Ingredients
- 4 cups cold water
- 1 (6-inch) strip kombu
- 1 cup bonito flakes
Instructions
Fill a saucepan with the water and drop in a strip of kombu. Bring to a bare simmer over medium-high heat and then pluck out the kombu with a pair of tongs and discard it. Stir the bonito flakes into the hot water. Turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let the pot sit undisturbed until all of the bonito flakes sink to the bottom of the saucepan, about 10 minutes.
Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids. Use the dashi immediately, or pour it into a 1-quart jar with a tight-fitting lid and store it in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months, making sure to allow plenty of headspace if you’re using glass jars.
Reprinted with permission from Broth and Stock from the Nourished Kitchen, by Jennifer McGruther. Copyright 2016, published by Ten Speed Press, and imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Photography copyright 2016 by Jennifer McGruther.
