How to make basic dashi (Japanese fish stock)

Dashi (or dashijiru) is one of the most important ingredients in Japanese cooking, playing a role in nearly every Japanese dish, both traditional and contemporary. That said, there is no one “correct” way to make dashi, so I’m not going to provide you with any hard and fast rules here, just a common recipe that I use to build off of.

I will be showing you how to make katsuo dashijiru first, and you guys can use it as a base to build off of.  Katsuobushi is dried and smoked skipjack tuna that is shaved into paper-thin shavings, like pencil shavings, and sold in plastic zip top bags in Japanese grocery stores in America. In Japan you can still buy the whole dried katsuo fillets and do it yourself, but that is for another post :)

Step 1 – Put the water and kombu in the pot on the stove and turn the heat on high.

Step 2 – Just before the water begins to boil, remove the kombu and set aside. If you don’t remove the kombu it will make the dashi taste harsh and off-putting

Step 3 – Put the handful of katsuobushi in the water. Let it boil a few seconds then turn off the heat.

Step 4 – Let the katsuobushi sit in the water, creating a rich infusion. Walk away and let it do it’s thing for awhile.

Step 5 – When the flakes finally sink to the bottom of the pot, carefully strain out the liquid in a separate container, reserving the flakes. This liquid is your ichiban dashi, or “first stock”. This is typically used for noodles, clear soups and in dishes where elegant presentation is desired, but you can use it as an all-purpose stock as well.

Niban Dashijiru

Take the reserved bonito flakes and add them to 6 cups of water in the pot. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add a large handful of katsuobushi, turn off the heat and let it sit until all the katsuobushi settles on the bottom, just like you did for the ichiban dashi. Finally, strain out all the katsuobushi, this time squeezing it to get out all the flavor into the liquid. This is your niban dashi, or “second stock”, and is traditionally used as an all purpose dashi.

Please share any experiences or recipes in the comments section below! I love to share and compare recipes with fellow Japanese food enthusiasts. Have fun!