This easy Japanese soup is healthy and great for brain development/brain stimulation (especially during pregnancy and infancy) for babies, toddlers and any age really, especially if you're allergic to soybean!
Dashi is a traditional Japanese stock with many health benefits . Bonito dashi contributes to preventing hypertension, enhances liver function, prevents arteriosclerosis and can assist with fatigue.
“Using natural dashi for baby food can teach babies what umami tastes like,” Sakamoto says. “Natural dashi is a fundamental ingredient for babies to learn and get used to eating Japanese food.” - Yachiyo Sakamoto, a professor at Kurashiki Sakuyo University and president of the Okayama Dietician Association
"Dashi" simply means ‘stock’ in Japan and is the base ingredient to form many soups and and broths, as well as various Japanese dishes.
Awase Dashi (合わせだし) is consisted of kombu (dried kelp) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). This is essentially a seafood stock. The word awase basically means to combine or to mix together so awase dashi is made from combining kombu and katsuobushi. For my baby, I some times use the packaged baby dashi powder or i some times make it from scratch using kombu and katsuobushi, depending on my schedule and what I'm doing that day and which one is more convenient at that time.
Basically there are five kinds of dashi that you can prepare and each type has its own health benefits. The five types of dashi are : bonito dashi (katsuo dashi), kelp dashi (kombu dashi), bonito-kelp dashi (katsuo-kombu dashi), sardine dashi (niboshi) and dried shiitake mushrooms dashi (shiitake dashi). However, dashi is most commonly made by combining kombu (kelp seaweed) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), which is Awase Dashi.
INGREDIENTS
1-2 cup boiling water ( depending on how much you want )
Dashi powder or homemade dashi
Soft Silken Tofu, cut into small square pieces
Green onion, finely chopped
This is the Brand I some times use if I did not already have dashi prepared for baby, I will use Wakodo and you can buy it from a variety of online websites such as Amazon, Rakuten, and in Japan, you can get it at Nishimatsuya and Akachan Honpo. For the USA, you might be able to find it or a similar brand at your local Japanese supermarket.
Health Benefits of Dashi
This a summary of the basic health benefits of dashi
Dashi contains katsuobashi which is high in amino acids that are vital to maintain a healthy body and lifestyle and is also important in the production of strong teeth and bones and brain development
Due to its high iron content the iodine helps prevent both iron deficiency and anemic symptoms
contains iodine and many more nutrients