Is there a substitute for dashi?
I adore Japanese cooking, but when cooking for vegetarians, I don't want to use dashi (bonito) stock. However, if I just omit it, the result doesn't taste authentic.
Anyone have a substitute?
Best Answer
Dashi (??) is a class of stocks, and while katsuodashi (?????) made with bonito flakes is the most common type, there are plenty of alternatives.
The most common purely vegetarian one in Japan is kombudashi (????, ?????) made from kelp. You can try to make your own, but well-stocked Japanese grocers will have powdered instant versions of this in stock. Here's one from Ajinomoto:
Note the green packaging to differentiate it from the red/pink katsuo versions. We use kombudashi often at home, and in miso soup etc the taste is not noticeably different from katsuodashi, although it does lack the strong "fishy" notes.
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Quick Answer about "Is there a substitute for dashi?"
Chicken broth is one of the easiest and fastest dashi substitutes that can absolutely serve as your soup-base. Also, the probability of having it in stock is much more. Just make sure that the broth is a little refined than it actually is.What can I use instead of dashi in miso soup?
Instead of dashi, a traditional ingredient for miso soup that can be hard to find, this version uses seafood stock or chicken stock with a bit of fish sauce added to it. Note, if you can't get seaweed, you can use spinach. Don't mix it into the soup pot though. Instead, chop up 2 cups of fresh spinach leaves.5 BEST DASHI SUBSTITUTES and alternatives to use in your Japanese dishes
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Answer 2
I have heard of the eastern fish sauces being substituted with a mix of a little light soy sauce, and a couple of fermented bean products, yellow bean sauce and fermented tofu, blended.
If you combine the fermented products with a kombu stock (as suggested by Elendil), you might get a closer variant. Remains to be seen how effective it would be.
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