In a Japanese kitchen, dashi begins with kombu steeped in cold water, and once the broth is done it is easy to assume the kelp has done its job. It is not finished. Cut into thin ribbons and cooked down with soy sauce and a little sugar, it turns dark and glossy and becomes tsukudani — a relish for warm rice, and the thing to put in the middle of an onigiri.
Makes about ⅓ cup · About 15 minutes · from one batch of dashi
Ingredients
- The kombu left over from making dashi — about 30g, weighed after draining
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
We measure with a 15 ml tablespoon and a 5 ml teaspoon.
Kombu varies in thickness. If yours is still tough after its time in the water, simmer it in fresh water until tender and drain it before you start — that time is on top of the fifteen minutes above.
How to make it
- Cut it thin. Squeeze the water out of the kombu, then slice it into thin ribbons a few millimeters wide. A knife is all this needs.
- Cook the water off. Warm a dry pan over medium-low heat and add the kombu. Stir for 3–4 minutes, until the surface no longer looks wet.
- Add the soy sauce and sugar. Keep stirring until the liquid has almost gone and the ribbons turn dark and glossy.
- Finish with sesame. Off the heat, stir the sesame seeds through. Let it cool, then keep it in a sealed jar in the refrigerator. It is best on the day you make it, and keeps a few days.
Where it goes
Warm rice first — that is what it is for. Then the middle of an onigiri, a small pile beside cold tofu, or a corner of a bento box.
Nothing wasted
It is less a recipe than a habit: make dashi, keep the kombu, and dinner leaves you a jar. Sheet kombu is what this needs — the powdered kind dissolves into the broth and leaves nothing behind.
Part of The Sunday Batch — small things made ahead, for easier weekday mornings.
