Making Dashi

Okay, I am trying to post more often by giving myself only 15 minutees to write a simple post! Let's see if I can do it.

We talked about a few different recipes that involve dashi, a traditional Japanese kombu and bonito stock. Here is a basic recipe. If you check out any book on Japanese cooking, it will invariably contain dashi in nearly every soup or sauce. It's extremely useful! The dashi granules you can buy are full of MSG. The recipes below are for the whole foods, grandma-style real deal. If you make dashi, double the recipe and freeze it in 1 cup portions. It is perfect for miso soup, cold noodle dishes, etc.

I'll give two recipes below. Katsuobushi, or bonito flakes, are delicious. Buy the bigger flakes for this use. The thinner flakes are used as a condiment on a variety of delicious Japanese dishes (steamed spinach in marinade, soft tofu in marinade, okonomiyaki omelets, etc.).

The following recipe is adapted from The Japanese Kitchen, by Hiroko Shimbo.

Ichiban Dashi (First Fish Stock)

This kind of stock gives you the best nutrients and flavor from the kombu and the bonito. It is also nearly instant. I don't know much about the health properties of bonito, but the Japanese have an amazing average life span, and in the traditional diet dashi would be eaten at least once a day in some form or another. You can check out this website for more info on dashi:

http://www.nippon-sapuri.com/english/peptide.html

2 quarts water
5 6-inch squares kombu (kelp)
1 cup packed katsuobushi (flaked bonito fish)

1. Wipe the kombu with a damp cloth. Heat the water and kombu until they nearly boil, over medium heat. Remove the kombu and save it for another use. You can either use this liquid as vegetarian stock (kombu dashi) or proceed with the directions below to make ichiban dashi.
2. Add the katsuobushi to the kombu dashi and allow to come to a boil (this should only take a few seconds, hopefully). Turn off the heat, skim off the foam, and let the mixture stand for 2 minutes.
3. Strain the stock through a cheesecloth-lined sieve (I actually just strain it through a strainer usually). Reserve the katsuobushi to make niban dashi (recipe below), if desired.
4. Ichiban dashi keeps in the fridge up to 4 days, or you can refrigerate it in small portions. I made a bunch of this at the end of both my pregnancies and had lots of delicious, simple miso soup after my kids were born.

Niban Dashi (Second Fish Stock)

This stock has a much more subtle flavor and is best suited for simmered dishes. This is a good way to reuse leftover kombu from cooking beans, etc. You can use fresh katsuobushi if you like.

2 quarts water
Kombu and katsuobushi leftover from making Ichiban Dashi.

Combine all the above ingredients and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Strain and use, refrigerate, or freeze.

Twenty-nine minutes -- whew! Close. I'm getting faster.

Creamy Rosemary, Tomato, and Lentil Soup

This is one of our go-to suppers for those evenings when we haven’t been to the store in awhile. When our hands are busy with the kids, the only real prep we have to do is chop the onion. I recommend that you make a triple batch so that you have some to freeze and some to eat the next day at lunch. We use olive oil or butter here, but I'm sure that you could some some other oil or fat if you prefer.

1 onion, chopped

a few cloves of garlic, minced

aromatic vegetables (carrots, celery, leeks, or whatever else you have on hand), chopped

olive oil or butter

1 32 oz. can tomatoes, with their juice

2 cups good chicken stock, or water

½ cup red lentils

salt to taste

large handful minced fresh rosemary (optional)

greens, roughly chopped (kale is a favorite here)

Heat some olive oil (scant ¼ cup?) in a soup pot. Add the onions, salt to taste, and cook over medium heat until softened but not browned. Add the garlic, rosemary and aromatic veg (if using), and allow the garlic to soften as well. Add tomatoes, lentils, and broth or water, salting to taste. Bring to a simmer and then turn heat to medium low (or whatever heat the soup simmers gently at on your stove). Simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are creamy and falling apart, (at least 1 1/2 hours for us). Do remember to stir the soup occasionally, though it doesn't need much attention if the heat is low enough. We often putter around the garden or go for a short walk after we get this going IF the heat is right. We've also put this in a 300 degree oven and gone for a longer walk: we call this the poor man's crockpot.

When the lentils are completely soft, check the seasonings and adjust as necessary. Puree with an immersion blender, or use a food mill or regular blender. If adding greens, return the soup to your saucepan and toss the chopped or torn greens on top. Turn up the heat to medium and steam the greens.

Sometimes we swirl a dollop of pesto or green goddess into each bowl for variety. Delicious with salmon broiled in herbed and oiled breadcrumbs and a salad of some kind.