Dashi

Dashi is one of the pillars of Japanese and Nikkei cuisines, as well as being an all-purpose soup stock and seasoning. In its simplest form, dashi is made from air-dried bonito fish flakes, konbu (a type of seaweed; sometimes written as kombu) and water. The best dashi is home-made but you can also buy it in a granular form, rather like an instant stock cube (in Japanese this form is known as dashi-no-moto, and a popular brand is Hon Dashi by Ajinomoto); it is ready to use simply by dissolving in hot water. Instant dashi, although very practical, is not ideal when a delicate but subtle and crystal clear stock is needed. For these situations, I would always recommend making the primary dashi recipe below.