There are several types of dashi and I'll introduce them here. How do we decide which kind of dashi to use for a particular dish? Well, there is no rule. Each household may have preference, but I added some examples of dishes that go well with each type of dashi.
In a medium saucepan, add water and dashi packet (some brand may ask you to add the packet after boiling). Start cooking covered over medium heat. After boiling, reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Shake the bag a few times to get more flavors out of the bag. Discard the packet and dashi is ready to use.
Dashi Powder Method
Bring water to a boil, and stir in the dashi powder. Turn off the heat and dashi is ready to use.
To Store
You can keep dashi (made from scratch or made with dashi packet) in the refrigerator for up to 3-7 days. If you use dashi powder, use it immediately. I don't recommend to freeze dashi made with dashi packet or dashi powder.
Notes
Water: Use 2 cups of water for rich dashi and 3 cups for regular use. Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.