Many recipes call for some sort of flavorful liquid.  Sometimes it’s wine, juice, or pureed vegetables, but often they call for broth or stock.  The main difference between broth and stock is that stock contains bones, where as broth can be made from just vegetables and/or meat.  These tasty liquids add flavor, color, and body to the dishes they are added to.  Stocks, in particular, will contain gelatin and collagen from the bones used to make them which can make a soup or sauce feel heavier or silkier in your mouth.

Many Western recipes, especially those from French cuisine, frequently call for beef, veal, or chicken stock.  In Japan, one of the most important cooking liquids is dashi, a broth made with only two ingredients (okay, three if you count the water).  Dashi is a component of, or is the base of many Japanese sauces and soups.

As important as dashi is, its simplicity is a refreshing reminder of how great things can be made from just a few very basic ingredients.  In the case of dashi, the two ingredients are kombu, a type of kelp, and katsuobushi, flakes shaved from dried, smoked bonito (a variety of fish similar to tuna).

These ingredients are easy to find at any Asian market, like Am-Ko, but these ingredients are also becoming more available at regular grocery stores.  The bonito flakes look like pink wood shavings, and are normally packed in puffy plastic bag packaging (see picture at right).  A 1.5 ounce package will cost under $4 and is about enough for two batches of dashi.  Bonito flakes are edible on their own, and are commonly sprinkled on dishes as garnish and flavoring.  One popular dish commonly covered with them is okonomiyaki.

The kombu (kelp) you need will probably also be packaged in a plastic package.  Look near the other dried seaweed products.  Frequently you will find it labeled “dashi kombu”, which makes it even easier to spot.  It will be rectangular, flat, and green, with a white powder in the surface.  This is not a defect.  According to some sources, it’s just dried salts from the ocean.  Whatever it is, most experts tell you to wipe the surface gently so as to remove some, but not all, of this flavorful residue.  If you’re feeling industrious, wipe it.  If not, just run it under cool water.  It doesn’t seem to make a huge difference.

Kelp contains a lot of glutamic acid, the natural form of MSG.  It makes food taste better, and gives the food more umami.  This is the fifth taste sensation, often described as “tasty” or “savory”.  This flavor is also abundant in seaweed, fermented foods, mushrooms, and meat stocks.  This is one of the main reasons so many recipes call for some sort of stock or broth–it makes your food taste better.

As I mentioned, dashi is used in lots of Japanese recipes.  So, if you like Japanese food, and want to make something a little more authentic, make up some dashi and save it in the freezer.  It will keep for a very long time there.  I’ll share some recipes next week to give you some ideas on how to use dashi.

There are two recipes here.  Ichiban (first) dashi is made with the initial ingredients and has a stronger, cleaner, more refined flavor.  If you want to taste the dashi, this is what you want.  When I make a simpler dish, maybe drop in some udon and tofu, I’d use this.  You can re-use the same ingredients to make niban (second) dashi, which has a cloudier appearance and less flavor.  This is perfect for making things that are going to contribute a lot of their own flavor, like if you were going to make a miso soup or a sauce.  If you are vegetarian, you could make dashi with just the kelp and use it the same way as regular dashi.

Ichiban Dashi (on left in the picture)

• 2 quarts of water
• 5 pieces of kombu approx. 6″ square
• 1 cup (packed) bonito flakes

1. Clean kombu as described earlier and add to water in a large pot.
2. Heat over medium-high heat.
3. Just before it reaches a boil (approx. 10 minutes), remove the kombu and reserve for niban dashi.
4. Add bonito flakes, bring just back to a boil, then turn off the heat.
5. Let stand for 2 minutes to develop the flavor, then strain, reserving the bonito for niban dashi.

Niban Dashi (on right in the picture)

• 2 quarts water
• kombu and bonito from making ichiban dashi

1. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce to simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes, then strain.

Dashi doesn’t last long in the refrigerator, but it freezes well.  If you really want to plan ahead, freeze in different sizes from ice cube trays up to quart containers.

I made these a while back for dessert after the Okonomiyaki dinner.  The video makes them look very easy, but they are a lot of work with a lot of short windows of opportunity where things can get really screwed up.  Of course, I had to make this as hard as possible for myself, so I made my own anko or sweet red bean (azuki or adzuki) paste first.  The recipe I used was from a book I had out from the library, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art.

Anko or red bean paste

Once the anko has been made (or, more often, purchased), you envelop the strawberries with it.  You want to made sure your strawberries are clean and completely dry, otherwise the anko will slip around instead of sticking like you see in the video.

The mochi dough is made with sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour).  It’s not actually sweet, nor does it contain gluten, it’s just referring to the different type of starch in the glutinous rice it’s made from (sticky amylopectin instead of amylose).  The most popular and widely available brand that I’ve seen and heard of is Mochiko.  You basically mix it with sugar and water to make a sweet pasty slurry then steam it for a while.  Once it’s been cooked it is very sticky and stretchy.  The texture is unique, and changes quickly.  As it dries, it firms up and will not stick together well any more, so despite being way too hot to handle with your hands, you have to divide the dough and carefully cover the anko-covered strawberries.  Place on corn starch (or powdered sugar) so that they don’t stick, but brush off the excess as it can make the outside too dry.  You can see my mochi that I made… they’re messy and misshapen.  The small ones just have the anko inside (no strawberry).

They are really a treat.  As you bite into them, you pass through the chewy layer of mochi dough and the sweet sticky azuki bean paste to get to the strawberry inside.  The mochi dough is nice, but it’s really just a containment system for the filling.  The strawberry and red bean flavors combine into something that is definitely greater than the sum of the parts.  This recipe is not for the faint of heart, but if you’re feeling adventurous (or see ichigo daifuku in a store or restaurant near you), give them a try.

Ichigo Daifuku

One such specialty of the area is a particular street-food style of cabbage pancake called okonomiyaki. Normally you would find this dish made to order on a large griddle at a place specializing in just this dish. Numerous items like green onions, meat, seafood, or vegetables are mixed in to the batter or layered on top as it cooks. There are two main schools of okonomiyaki, the mix-it-all-into-the-batter style of Osaka, and the layered variety popularized in Hiroshima.

Because of where she lived, my wife wanted to make Osaka-style okonomiyaki, and it turned out to be easy and delicious. The batter can be as simple as eggs, flour and water, but you can make it more authentic and delicious by using dashi in place of water and grated yam in place of some of the flour.

Basic Okonomiyaki Batter
This proportion should be split and made into two pancakes, which will serve 2-4 people. It can be halved or multiplied easily.

• 2 c flour
• 1 1/2 c water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 or more of a cabbage (green or napa), finely shredded

1. Mix together the flour, water, and eggs.
2. Stir in the cabbage, and season with salt and pepper.

As I mentioned before, you could also stir in some chopped green onions, some ground meat, shrimp, squid, or other vegetables.

Basic Okonomiyaki Preparation

• oil (vegetable, olive, doesn’t matter much)
• 1/2 of the basic batter
• 4 slices of bacon
• okonomiyaki sauce
• Kewpie mayonnaise
• bonito flakes

1. Heat a 10-12 inch shallow-sided pan over medium heat. I like my cast iron griddle for this.
2. Spread a film of oil on the pan.
3. Pour on the batter and spread into a large circle (mine nearly fills the pan).
4. Lay bacon slices on top of the okonomiyaki. Press down to bind them to the batter.
5. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the bottom has browned.
6. Flip. This is much easier said than done. Use two spatulas and don’t worry too much about it breaking, you’ll cover up any mistakes later.
7. Cook on the second side for another 5 minutes, or until the bacon and any other raw meat in the batter is fully cooked.
8. Remove to a plate and garnish with sauce, mayo, and bonito flakes.

We like to smear some okonomiyaki sauce all over, then squirt the Kewpie mayo all over. Toss on some bonito flakes (also known as katsuobushi) and watch them dance in the heat from the okonomiyaki.

While it can be a meal all on its own, I served it with some daikon, peeled, cut into rounds, beveled the edges (a process known as mentori), and simmered in a kelp/dashi/soy broth until tender. Refer to this recipe for “furofuki daikon” from Recipezaar.

Okonomiyaki Sauce
from The Japanese Kitchen
You may be able to find okonomiyaki sauce at a local ethnic store, but it’s just a variation on steak sauce. Make your own by mixing the following and simmer for 3 minutes:

• 1/4 cup tomato ketchup
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon smooth French mustard
• 2 Tablespoons mirin
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

A note on Kewpie mayonnaise (sometimes referred to as QP mayonnaise). You may be tempted to pull out your typical mayo, but this soft, squeezable bottle dispenses a tangier version of the white gooey condiment. It’s made with rice vinegar or cider vinegar, which gives it a little sweeter flavor unlike the simpler creamy flavor of American mayo.

Sometimes we go out to restaurants to have Japanese or other Asian food (her current favorite is a small Korean restaurant, Goodfella). These days, we’re more often staying at home, but this doesn’t mean we have to leave behind her favorite cuisine!

She has been working on her skills with chopsticks lately, and she has gotten much better. I made a variety of sushi last weekend, and we all had fun picking our favorites and trying new things. Making sushi at home isn’t hard, necessarily, but it does take practice. I mangle some scraps of nori and sushi rice, but the sushi tastes good, and in the end it’s all about the flavors.

We went with some simple combinations, based on what we had around the house. With our family’s love of Japanese food, we almost always have some of the basic staples of Japanese cuisine. We’re always excited to find new ways to use the same ingredients.

First is a classic stripped-down California roll. It has our favorite bits, the fake crab and creamy avocado.
Next, we have eel. This eel is actually from a can of roasted eel (black pepper flavor). The pepper flavor was very strong, but otherwise it was surprisingly good. Not as soft and sweet as the unagi you’d get at your favorite sushi bar, but good on its own merits. Next to it are some seasoned corn gunkanmaki (corn, kewpie mayo, soy sauce).

We eat eggs all the time, and sushi night is no different. I made some tamago (seasoned scrambled eggs) wrapped with nori strips.

We had some frozen prepared shrimp that we’ve been looking to use. I’ve made them from scratch before, but it’s certainly easier to buy it pre-made. The package we got at the local Asian market had probably 3 dozen prepared shrimp for around $7. Pack some rice, add a dab of wasabi, place the shrimp, and there you have a delicious piece of ebi.