I grew up with instant dashi, which comes from a packet, in granule form. It never occurred to me to make it from scratch, so I was intrigued by my cousin’s revelation. Could it make that much of a difference? Her comment stuck with me over the years, but I had no reason to make it from scratch…

Until I realized how easy dashi is to make! With only 3 ingredients—one of which is water—there is no reason not to make it at home. Instant dashi is only a little more convenient than homemade and often contains unwanted ingredients like MSG.

Compared to making other types of stock, this is a cinch. You just have to measure the dry ingredients and into the pot they go. I like to double the recipe and freeze a portion of it in plastic bags or containers, usually in 1 or 2-cup increments.

How does the taste compare? You’ll have to make it, incorporate it into a recipe, and judge for yourself.

Basic Dashi
Makes about 3½ cups

1 piece of kombu, about 10 inches in length
0.7 oz. shaved bonito flakes
4½ cups of water

Wipe the kombu with a slightly damp paper or kitchen towel. Add the water and kombu to a large pot and set over a high heat.

When the impurities rise to the surface, remove swiftly with a fine-mesh skimmer. Remove kombu when the water is on the verge of boiling and you see small bubbles rise to the surface.

Wait for the water to come to a rolling boil, then add the bonito flakes and immediately turn off the heat. With chopsticks or wooden spoon, gently push down the flakes below the surface of the water.

Leave the pot alone until the bonito flakes sink to the bottom of the pot, usually around 20–30 minutes. Do not stir the flakes or your dashi will become cloudy.

Slowly pour the dashi through a strainer lined with a paper towel into a bowl. Squeeze the wet towel gently. Be careful not to squeeze too firmly or your dashi will be bitter.

Adapted from 和食の基本.

Download recipe (PDF)