How to Make Dashi and Ramen Soup with Mushrooms and Wakame

How to make dashi and ramen soup with soy sauce eggs is the last post from this Stocks and Broths series. I wanted to end with something that was completely new for me, something that I have never cooked or eaten before.

I’ve heard of dashi many times before but never got the chance to eat it anywhere or cook it myself. Japanese restaurants are not something you would find in rural Germany, the only good sushi I get to eat is when traveling to a larger city, like Munich or Cologne. And to be able to buy Japanese ingredients to make the dashi myself, well, for that I would have to drive about 60 km to Kassel or order the stuff online. Which is not something you do on a whim, especially since you have no idea if you would like the results anyway and since Japanese ingredients are not exactly cheap around here. But what doesn’t one do for the blog? 🙂

So I wanted to make something completely new for me and, when it came to stocks or broths, I really couldn’t find anything less known to me than dashi. I mean, kombu and bonito flakes? I had to google to find out what they were.

Dashi is the Japanese stock resulting when cooking kombu, which is edible kelp or seaweeds and katsuobushi or bonito flakes, which are preserved, fermented tuna flakes. Sounds “delicious”, isn’t it, especially for someone like me, who never put a toe outside Europe or inside a Japanese restaurant. But I am pretty brave when it comes to food and cooking.

Dashi is the basic stock used in Japanese cooking, the base for a large variety of Japanese soups, including miso soup or udon noodle soup. I used the first batch I’ve made to make an absolutely delicious ramen soup with soy sauce eggs and other toppings, like scallions, corn kernels, fried mushrooms, wakame (also seaweed and something I bought for this occasion – what to do with the rest, I wonder?). I am talking about the first batch because I used the instructions I found on Just One Cookbook (where else to look when it comes to Japanese cooking?) and used the already cooked kombu and bonito flakes to make a “second dashi”, which has a little less power than the “first dashi” but it’s still flavorsome enough to get you a really nice miso soup when needed. And since the few grams of kombu and bonito flakes were so expensive I went even further following the instructions on Just One Cookbook and made furikake out of the twice cooked ingredients, which is some kind of rice seasoning. I cannot tell you, how good that is, as I hadn’t had the chance to use it until now, but I will let you know when I do.

So what can I say, my first try in Japanese cooking was a success and I can proudly present to you not only this homemade dashi but also a delicious ramen soup recipe topped with some of the most delicious eggs I have eaten in my life. They were not my idea either, this kind of food is so new to me, I cannot pretend to be original, I need the recipes! I found the soy sauce eggs on Playing with Flour a few weeks ago and made a note not to forget them, they looked so amazing and I knew I wanted to have them on top of my first dashi affair.

And what else can I say at the end of these two weeks full of stocks and broths. Firstly that we ate a lot, and I mean really huge amounts of soup. We loved each of them (the kids refused to try the fish soup, but ate happily all the rest). Some of the stock/broth recipes I shared, like the vegetable broth, the beef broth and the chicken stock are things that I have been eating all my life, but some were new, so I can really say that I have learned a lot. I overcame my fear of cooking something for 24 hours like in the case of the bone broth and I have learned how delicious a well made fish stock can be, I’m sure I will make this recipe again and again for the rest of my life. And when making the dashi I opened a whole new chapter in my cooking life.

I very much hope that you’ve enjoyed these recipes and that you’ve found something of use for you here during these past two weeks.

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How to Make Dashi

Rating  5.0 from 1 reviews

Serves: 1 liter

Ingredients

• For the dashi:
• 20 g/ 0.7 oz kombu
• 1 liter /4 cups water
• 30 g/ 1 oz katsuobushi/ dried bonito flakes
• For the soy sauce eggs:
• 6 eggs (medium Germany, large USA)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• ¾ cups soy sauce
• For the soup:
• 250 g/ 8.8 oz small mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 150 g/ 5.3 oz ramen noodles
• very small handful dried wakame
• corn kernels, canned or frozen
• 3 scallions
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons sake
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce or more to taste
• salt

Instructions

1. To make the dashi clean the kombu using a damp cloth to wipe the seaweeds without removing the white powdery coating. Place in a pot and cover with the water. Leave to soak for at least 30 minutes and up to half day.
2. Turn on the heat and almost bring to a boil. Take it off the heat just before it actually starts to boil and remove the kombu. Save it for the second dashi.
3. Let the liquid stand for about 5 minutes then add the dried bonito flakes. Bring to a boil again, skimming occasionally and simmer for just 30 seconds when it comes to a boil. Turn off the heat and leave it for about 10 minutes until the bonito flakes sink to the bottom.
4. Line a sieve with paper towel and strain the liquid. Squeeze the paper towel to release all the liquid. Keep the bonito flakes for the second dashi.
5. The dashi will keep for 3 to 7 days in the fridge and for about 3 weeks when frozen.
6. To make the second dashi (optional) place the cooked kombu and bonito flakes in a pot, cover with 1 liter/ 4 cups water, bring to a boil and cook gently for 10 minutes. Leave it until the bonito flakes sink to the bottom of the pot and strain as shown before.
7. To make the soy sauce eggs, whisk together the warm water, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce in a bowl large enough to hold the 6 eggs.
8. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the eggs for 6 minutes and 50 seconds. In the meantime fill a bowl with ice cubes and cold water and place the eggs inside as soon as they are cooked. Leave for a few minutes, then peel. Place the eggs in the marinade and marinate for 2 to 6 hours. Remove and place in an airtight container, they will keep in the fridge for up to 1 month. You can reuse the marinade to make a second batch of eggs (they were so good, I made a second batch immediately).
9. To make the soup heat the dashi gently and stir in the mirin, sake and soy sauce and salt to taste.
10. Clean and slice the mushrooms and cook them in 1 tablespoon oil until golden brown.
11. Cook the noodles according to the package's instructions. Soak the wakame in hot water according to the package's instructions. Chop the scallions and drain or defrost the corn kernels.
12. Place some of these ingredients in each bowl, pour the soup over and top with the halved eggs. Serve immediately.

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These are some of the products I used to make this recipe. This post contains affiliate links. The price you pay as a consumer does not change, but if you make a purchase we will receive a commission which helps support the blog.

Stocks and Broths Series

Roasted Vegetable Broth and Hazelnut Dumplings

Beef Broth and Dill Pancakes

Chicken Stock and Semolina Dumplings

How to Make Bone Broth

Homemade Fish Stock with Salmon Balls

How to Make Dashi