High Quality Dashi

Kombu (sea kelp, こんぶ), together with bonito (skipjack tuna), are the main elements for dashi (Japanese fish stock, だし), which is essential for authentic Japanese cuisine. In fact, in Japan, restaurants are even judged based on the quality of their dashi. Japanese kombu are mainly harvested in Hokkaido (see map).


Bonito is dried, fermented, and smoked into what is called katsuobushi (かつおぶし). I had used dashi in my search for making the ramen-style eggs (hanjuku tamago). Perhaps I may write about these eggs too...


Recently I managed to get my hands on a Rausu-kombu, among the top 3 grades of kombu (the others being Ma-kombu and Rishiri-kombu) at a Japanese fair, at SGD$50 for 170g. Will have to go for Rishiri-kombu (at Meidi-ya) once I finish the former.


Also from a fair, I discovered a premium grade of katsuobushi, known as Hongare-bushi. The bonito used was caught using hook & line fishing! Understand that this was air-dried for 6 months, twice as long as the usual katsuobushi. And it was shaved fresh upon purchase! It is quite amazing to see the thin slivers of Hongare-bushi, produced from the hardest type of katsuobushi. I must say that it has definitely resulted in a much deeper flavour. Would love to have my very own traditional bonito shaver (used here), and prepare it only when needed.

I use a simple recipe for dashi, though I may try some elements of this other version from a Michelin-starred restaurant.


Oh, I also use mineral water for the dashi. I had started using this for the ice in cocktails for at least 6 years. This brand is inspired by my favourite food critic.

Sincerely hope that Japan will recover soon (am confident it will, such is the tenacity of this culture). I deeply believe it to be the most refined, and among the best cuisine in the world.