How to: Basic Dashi Stock & Simple noodles

During this long Malaysia Day weekend, I have had a calorie binge. So it was definitely back to healthy options today. Knowing that I had a long work-week ahead, I decided to prepare a batch of Dashi stock (Japanese seaweed stock), that I could freeze and reuse in the dishes during the week. This stock is super simple to make, has almost no calories and best of all, is super tasty. Here's what you'll need.

Dashi Stock

Step 1: The ingredients.
2.5 litres of water
2 pieces of Kombu or kelp
A fistful of bonito flakes

Step 2: Put them all in a pot and boil

Set the flames to high until the water starts boiling. After that switch to a smaller flame and let it slowly simmer for 30 minutes or until the aroma starts wafting from the pot.

Step 3: Remove from flame and strain
After straining, leave until completely cooled before transfering to a covered container to be frozen for future use.

Simple rice noodles in dashi broth
Step 1: Put 4 to 5 ladels of broth in the pot (Depends on how much broth you prefer)
Put in rice noodles (Or your preferred noodle choice)

 

Step 2: When noodles are soft, add 1 tbsp mirin (Japanese glutinous rice wine)

 Step 3: Add 1tbsp Goma shabu (Sesame sauce for shabu shabu)

Step 4: Soy sauce to taste

Step 5: Crack an egg and add dried seaweed in a bowl. Pour hot noodle soup on top of egg and seaweed. (I prefer my eggs a little undercooked but if you're worried about eating partially raw eggs you can cook them in the pot first)

Step 6: Eat

Total calories for Soup Noodles - 320 calories (mainly from rice noodles)

There are a tonne of things that you can do with Dashi broth. For example, it can be used as a base for a hot pot, to sweeten sauces for tofu dishes or as the basic in stews. If you're the type that has a busy lifestyle to maintain, this is definitely one to keep in stock.