Hi! My Japanese colleague is trying to find dashi in my country.
Japanese food products are quite rare here but I have managed to find Hondashi, what I wanted to know is if it’s a good product or not as I want to surprise him with it.
Any help will be greatly appreciated, I read it’s amazon reviews and they seem to be good but I want an opinion from here as well.
by androidguy73
3 Comments
Finding katsuobushi (bonito flakes which are the basis of dashi) would be the perfect gift
Hondashi is a fine product, but it’d be like buying someone chicken bullion cubes (also fine). I think it’s still thoughtful especially if it’s hard to find in country
Yes, this is a good brand of dashi powder
What a nice gesture for someone who might be missing a taste of home! That product is used by a lot of home cooks in Japan. It contains salt, msg, and lactose from milk, among other ingredients (may vary by country). It also already includes bonito flavor. If your colleague makes dashi that way, he’ll be pleased. (Even if he doesn’t, he’ll likely be touched by your gesture.)
If he wants to make his own dashi, the products you want to find are kombu (a simple vegetarian dashi can be made with just this and water; possibly also dried shiitake). Add katsuobushi, and you have the smoky scent that many people associate with dashi. You can also make dashi with dried baby sardines.
So it depends if he’s looking for the instant version (Hondashi fits the bill) or if he wants to make it from scratch. [This article](https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi-jiru/) and [this one](https://www.justonecookbook.com/dashi-powder/) will give you a lot of information about both instant and homemade dashi to help you make your decision. There are also some brand names to help your search.