A core ingredient in Japanese cuisine, it is the holy grail of soup stocks in the nation's  culinary world.
The number of dishes that utilise dashi in its cooking process is almost  endless, which includes many iconic ones where it is an essential element.
Highlighting a  few below, it will quickly become apparent at how important dashi is in creating a flavour  that is so prominent for Japanese food. 

Before getting into the meals, it is interesting to note that there are multiple types of dashi, but the main 5 are ‘kombu’, ‘katsuo’, ‘niboshi’, ‘shiitake’ and ‘awase’.
Kombu is made from  dried kelp and is created by adding it into a pot of water for a few hours to let the umami  flavours seep out from the kombu.
Katsuo is dried bonito flakes where you add it into  boiling water and let it rest for a few minutes to get the dashi.

Using dried anchovies for  niboshi, add it into water for a minimum of 30 minutes but the longer is better.
Once ready,  begin heating the water until boiling for a few minutes and it should be complete.
Utilising  the famous mushroom, you take the shiitake and put them in cold water to sit in a fridge for  a day creating a dashi with its discernible taste.
Awase means mix in Japanese and is  essentially a combination of kombu and katsuo to make a versatile seafood dashi. 

Another traditional comfort food is Nikujaga, consisting of meat and potatoes, simmered together with onions, carrots, mushrooms, and noodles.
Dashi is added to infuse the dish with umami goodness, allowing all the ingredients to marinate in the flavorful broth.
These dishes exemplify how dashi truly serves as the holy grail of soup stocks in Japanese cuisine, elevating the taste and essence of countless dishes in the nation's culinary world.

Delicious Creations Enhanced by Dashi

A Japanese version of grilled pork ribs, barbeque is something that is  usually more associated with the West.

In enters ‘robatayaki’, a traditional form of cooking  that utilises hot charcoals to grill food over time.

With this, it can be imagined at how these  particular style of grilled pork ribs would have been made.

It is quite unlikely that most  people will have the firepit for robatayaki called a ‘irori’ in their home, but fortunately, this  can easily be made with a regular barbeque instead.

It begins with the base sauce that will be used to marinate the meat over the cooking  period.

Add dashi, kombu, mirin and sugar to a saucepan and let it heat before adding the  ribs.

Let it cook for around 40 minutes and set it to cool on the side. While it soaks in the  sauce, prepare and preheat the barbeque. 

Take out the ribs from the sauce and gently dry it with kitchen paper, but make sure to not  overdo it as you want to keep the rich sauce coated on the meat as much as possible.

Add  some oil to the pork and place it onto the barbeque to start grilling. After a while once it is  cooked and glazed well, slice it into portions and plate it. Using the rest of the sauce from  earlier as an extra on the side it is now finally time to eat.