Dashi as a soup base for ramen (and miso soup).
Dashi is a japanese stock used to make japanese cuisine, it's also a very versatile product. I use it to make soup ramen noodles and miso soup. Also after I have used up the ingredients, I can also re-use the ingredients again to make a lighter dashi stock that can be instead of regular water to make delicious rice. I find that the dashi takes some time to prep but it is well worth the wait. Also some of the ingredients like the shiitake mushrooms, kombu and katsuobushi will require a quick stop to your nearest japanese supermarket.
The recipe I provided below is a recipe that I have adapted. Katsuobushi is smoked tuna that is dried, hardened and then scraped to make fish flakes that is used to as a garnish for japanese cuisine and to flavour broths like this one. Kombu is seaweed kelp. In order to maximise the flavour I like to steep it for 2-6 hours, but you can steep it in as short as 30 minutes if you are short of time. You will need a therometer to ensure that when you hear the water that it never goes over 80 Celsius as it will infuse bitter flavours from the katusobushi into the dashi.
The flavour combinations of the katsuobushi and kombu make what is known as umami. The savoury mouthfeel that makes your mouth water. Serve it to your friends and family for something that they will never forget.
You can also make the broth vegan by replacing the bonito flakes for shiitake mushrooms that is found in japanese supermarkets.
Japanese dashi. Serves 2-3 people
Prep time: 40 minutes plus 2-6 hours steeping time
dashi base for ramen.
15g bonito flakes known as katsuobushi
15g kombu (japanese seaweed)
2-4 teaspoons miso paste
1 litre cold water
Recipe
Place 1 litre coldwater 15g bonito flakes and 15g kombu in a large bowl and allow to steep for anywhere between 2-6 hours. This will allow the flavours of the seaweed and fish flakes to infuse into the water
place all of the ingredients into a large saucepan and turn on the heat, use a therometer to ensure that the temperature never goes above 80 degrees celsius.
Using a colander drain all the the dashi stock into a large bowl leaving the kombu and katsuobushi behind. This is your dashi stock to make miso soup and ramen noodles
You can also recycle the leftover kombu and katsuobushi by adding 1 litre water to the leftovers and heat to 80 degees Celsius and make a lighter dashi stock that you can use instead of water to steam delicious rice.
To make ramen
Add a generous amount of salt to a saucepan add water and bring to the boil.
Find your favourite noodles and bring to the boil. This will take 2-4 minutes.
Drain the noodles using a colander and rinse using cold water. This will get rid of the starches and create firmer noodles.
Add the noodles, dashi, and chilli and other condiments or meats and veg into a saucepan and bring to a boil. In a small bowl, spoon 2-4 teaspoons miso paste with a little cold water to make a little slurry, and add this to the dashi. You can also add a spoonful of chilli sambal paste or spicy condiments if you want to add a bit of spice to your ramen.
Distrubute evenly into 2-3 bowls and voila, delicious ramen noodles you'll never want to forget!
To make miso soup
In each small bowl add 1-2 teaspoons of your miso soup. add a little cold water to make a slurry
Add all the optional condiments like chopped chilli, silken tofu, choppen into half inch cubes, wakame seaweed, mushrooms and spring onions into the small bowl.
Heat the dashi broth. Once you have heated the dashi to 75 degrees celcius add it to each of the small bowls and leave to simmer for a couple of minutes.
Your miso soup is ready to serve.
Distrubute evenly into 2-3 bowls and voila, delicious miso soup.