[Cooking Essay] Summer vegetables were already cheap, so I made Yamagata-style Dashi, put it on freshly cooked rice, and it was delicious!

Summer vegetables were cheap at the supermarket. Tomatoes were 90 yen, eggplants 60 yen, cucumbers 40 yen, and both Japanese ginger and shiso leaves were 100 yen for a full bag, so I had no choice but to buy them.

And once you have this lineup, you naturally want to make Yamagata-style Dashi. It takes time, but I carefully chop each ingredient one by one.

If you use a food processor or a manual chopper, the fibers might get broken down too much, making it tend to get watery. That's why it's important to do it by hand, even if it's a hassle, to keep that crunchy texture.

That said, once you start, it's actually quite fun. The aroma is pleasant, too. I soak the cucumbers and eggplants in water to remove any harshness. When you have everything ready in a bowl like that, it's colorful and makes the effort feel worthwhile.

I adjust the umami with salted kelp. It's supposed to be shredded kelp, but since all I have in stock is salted kelp, I figured, well, that's fine. It's not like it wouldn't be delicious.

Then, I soak it in noodle soup base. For this, I splurge on the Somi brand. Being expensive, the difference in deliciousness is clear. I always keep Somi's tonkotsu ramen soup in the fridge, too; this is one thing that can't be substituted.

Then, I mix everything together, and once it looks like a Japanese-style chopped salad, I cover it with plastic wrap pressed down like a drop lid to ensure the flavor spreads throughout, and chill it thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Putting this on freshly cooked rice is the best. The happiness of having cold and hot meet in your mouth.

That said, it takes a little under an hour for the rice to finish cooking from here. During that time, I prepare side dishes, miso soup, and other extras.

I rarely find the belly part of raw bonito for sale, so I sprinkled it with salt to remove the fishy smell. Leaving it alone, more moisture came out than I expected, and I realized that this extra step is worth it.

With that, dinner was complete. As usual, the local greengrocer had pre-boiled bamboo shoots for an unusually cheap price of 100 yen per 100g, so I cooked them with shiitake mushrooms and fried tofu. I was glad I had also bought some rice bran pickles. It turned out to be a very self-indulgent meal.

However, the star of this show is the Yamagata-style Dashi. First, I pile plenty of it onto the freshly cooked rice.

Honestly, this alone would be enough. It's that delicious!

Well, I'm lacking protein and fat. Lately, 'healthy' has come to mean 'low-calorie,' but in reality, what's important is balance.

So, I also had the raw bonito with ginger soy sauce. The bamboo shoots were perfect, too, and I fully enjoyed spring. I was struck by the realization that it's still April, even though I made Yamagata-style Dashi because it suddenly got hot and felt like summer, and summer vegetables were cheap.

But that's okay, isn't it? It's cheap and delicious.

By the way, for lunch the next day, I made cold pasta with the leftover Yamagata-style Dashi.

I added some tuna mayo seasoned with mayonnaise and a little ketchup. I drizzled plenty of olive oil over it. This was also wonderful, so Yamagata-style Dashi is delicious time and time again!

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