Dashi - Japanese Fish and Kelp Stock

Ichiban Dashi is a simple but incredibly healthy fish and seaweed stock made in Japan and used as a base for many dishes. Miso soup, noodle soups and even salad dressings are made with dashi. Variations of dashi can be made with only kombu or with an addition of shittake mushrooms. Kombu dashi has a lot of iodine from the seaweed and is helpful if you are exposed to radiation. The addition of traditionally made hatcho miso to your dashi stock has quite powerful radiation detoxing abilities. See here for more information.

"Miso’s outstanding medicinal qualities have been confirmed by scientific research. Dr. Shinchiro Akizuki, director of Saint Francis Hospital in Nagasaki, devoted his career to researching the use of foods, such as miso, as preventative medicine. Although Dr. Akizuki spent years treating atomic-bomb victims just a few miles from ground zero, neither he nor his associates suffered from the usual effects of radiation. Dr. Akizuki hypothesized that he and his staff were protected from the deadly radiation because they drank miso soup every day." - Culinary Treasures of Japan: The Art of Making and Using Traditional Japanese Foods by John and Jan Belleme.

The addition of burdock root to your soup will also help with detoxification.

I am not Japanese so I checked a wonderful Japanese cookbook out from the library to learn how to make this healthy stock. The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo. Heaps of other great recipes are in this book.

Step 1 Ingredients

Ichiban Dashi "first fish stock," extracts the best flavor and nutrients from kombu (kelp) and katsuobushi (bonito flakes). The very short cooking time prevents the stock from  becoming strongly flavored or yellowish. After this first lightly flavored stock is made the kombu and bonito can be re-used for "second fish stock" but will be stronger in flavor.

Ingredients:
2 quarts (litres) filtered water
Five 6-inch squares of kombu
1 c of tightly packed bonito fish flakes