Making kombu dashi for a vegetarian tempura dipping sauce
Eat Your Vegetables
My son is slowly crawling his way out of picky eating habits and one way to get him to try different vegetables is dipping them in some tempura batter and frying them up. Not surprising, I think you could deep fry a sock and make it edible 🤣
As a vegetarian, one piece of the tempura puzzle I hadn't nailed yet was a vegetarian tempura sauce. During my meat eating days my recipes all included bonito flakes to make the dashi and I hadn't yet figured out how to make a dashi sans bonito. For such a simple and important stock it surprises me I had to read this recipe to decide to make a kombu dashi. Honestly I didn't think enough of the umami flavor would come through using only kombu, but I was wrong.
I used the cold brew method by placing the kombu in a mason jar and leaving it out in the sun for two hours. I wasn't expecting much, but I was shocked at the depth of flavor the completed dashi provided. I mixed it with some soy sauce and su that I had made for the rice we would be using for sushi later and was thrilled to taste a sauce that was as deep and satisfying as the bonito version.
Tempura Sauce Recipe
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Kombu Dashi | 3/4 cup |
| Soy Sauce | 3 Tablespoons |
| Su | 2 Tablespoons |
*️⃣ Combine all the ingredients and serve warm or cold
Su Recipe
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Rice Vinegar | 1/3 cup |
| Sugar | 4 Tablespoons |
| Salt | 1 Tablespoon |
| 2" piece of Kombu | 1 each |
*️⃣ Combine all the ingredients in a small sauce pan
*️⃣ Bring the pan to a gentle simmer to dissolve the sugar and salt
*️⃣ Remove the kombu and allow the mixture to cool
An Enjoyable Meal
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