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I am on my own for the weekend and noodles are perfect when dinner is for one. I’ve never tried the niboshi dashi before, so using it to make kakejiru (broth for hot noodles) was a fine start. I made udon with tofu, green onions, and just because they looked so pretty in the store, some cherry tomatoes.
Kakejirui
makes 4 cups
page 66
♥ 1 quart niboshi dashi
♥ 1 ½ Tablespoons sugar
♥ ½ Tablespoon salt
♥ 1 Tablespoon shoyu
♥ ½ Tablespoon usukuchi shoyu (light-colored soy sauce)
Preparation:
In a medium pot, bring all ingredients to a very slow boil over low to medium heat. Go slow and low—you don’t want the dashi to become bitter and cloudy, nor do you want the sugar and shoyu to burn.
Tess's Japanese Kitchen 
Oh Tess! I have to tell you that I am now a “convert”! Last week, my friends and I were going to do a hotpot, Yosenabe, together. A regular occurrence in the cold weather. We have established a cherished repertoire. But my cooking buddy finally threw down the gauntlet! “Look! You go out of your way to use fresh Shungiku, Harusame, fresh Shiitake, and even Usukuchi Shoyu. But then you throw in those hideous bottled Dashi granules! Have you even read the label?!” Frankly, I had just never bothered. I DID have the Kombu and the Bonito flakes, but your blog post came at the perfect time!
Tess, what was I so afraid of? Now… I can’t wait to try the Niboshi Kakejiru! I can’t eat tomatoes, but I do have some Niban Dashi, and intend to whip up a tasty nabeyaki style udon tonight. Throw in some Shichimi Togarashi and float a nice egg on the top… Yummy! Does Gracie enjoy the Niboshi Dashi?
Hi Karla,
Sounds fun, your yosenabe! I had to laugh that your friend asked if you had read the label.That sent me scurrying to the kitchen to find my (secret) packs of granules.
The best one, written all in Japanese except for the English label stuck on the back with the ingredients listed (no brand name, but “product of Japan”!), has bonito extract, potato starch, dried bonito, yeast extract, tapioca starch, konbu seaweed, and shiitake mushroom extract. This one smells good when it hits the water. And it is expensive. Considering, though: it is probably less expensive than kombu and kastsu…
Confession time: I have been using this when time is short, or I am lazy.
The other two are from my daughter when she moved,and are also from Japan with the Shimaya brand; one without added msg. Lactose, salt and glucose are the first ingredients. It also includes, among other things, chicken and pork extracts! The other package has glucose, msg, and salt as the first ingredients. Then some chemicals I’d have to Google to pronounce. I haven’t tried these, but some others like them. They are very quick.
Ah! Don’t you just really love the spell when you make dashi? Especially of the katsubushi, measuring it out, and especially when it hits the hot water. oooo…
About Gracie, now, she doesn’t like dashi, though she does like the katsubushi flakes a little. She did not care for the little dried sardines at all. Mikey loved them! You can see him in the previous post trying to help himself to some from the opened package. I let him eat 3 of them before I got worried that it might not be good for him to eat many.
Tess,
thanks for all the wonderful dashi detail. I will slink off to my pantry and search the shelves for substitutes! I’ve just been reading about making udon too – which includes three bouts of walking on the dough! Treading the dough gives it a chewy texture – who knew. Now I want to make my dashi and my noodles.
Hi Carolyn,
Sorry for the delayed reply. I was not ignoring you! Just real life getting to the front.
Yes I made udon and posted it here last year. I wore my favorite nearly worn out leopard design socks. They are history. But I should make those udon noodles again!
Tess