"Dashi"(出汁) is an ingredient that you can't forget when making any Japanese dish. Dashi is a clear soup which is usually made by boiling kombu seaweed, dried sardines, Katsuobushi, and shitake mushrooms.

Nowadays, dashi is something we can easily buy in grocery stores. They are sometimes sold in powders.

This post will explain the most basic ingredients which you can make dashi out of and also introduce Japanese dishes you can make by using dashi.

Kombu seaweed is a Japanese name for kelp. You boil them in hot water to make dashi.

Dried sardine is also a popular ingredient when making dashi. Make sure you take off the head before boiling!

It would be easier to get katsuobushi in flakes but originally they are shaped in blocks.

Shitake mushrooms are also a popular kind of dashi ingredient. When you use dried shitake mushrooms, you don't have to boil them. Instead, soak them in the water.

Making dashi is very easy.
All you need to do is to add ingredients to the pot and boil.

One kind of the ingredients mentioned above will be fine but for some deeper flavor dashi, you can mix more than two ingredients.

Whenever you make nabe, a Japanese hot pot you will start by making dashi. The better the dashi is, the better your nabe will be.

Dashi is a thing you can't lack when you are to make some nimono, a Japanese simmered dish.

Ochazuke, a unique rice dish you eat by adding hot tea to your rice bowl can also be enjoyed by adding some hot dashi soup instead of hot tea.