dashijapanese-cuisinesubstitutions
I understand that the ingredients are not even nearly the same
If making a bonito dashi, grams-for-grams, how much Hon Dashi granules to substitute for bonito flakes?
This could partly be worked out from dashi packet or powder package recipes, but the powders and packets are not just dried bonito flake extracts
I do understand all answers will be approximations, and approximations are appreciated
thanks!
Dashi (だし) is a class of stocks, and while katsuodashi (かつおだし) made with bonito flakes is the most common type, there are plenty of alternatives.
The most common purely vegetarian one in Japan is kombudashi (昆布だし, こんぶだし) made from kelp. You can try to make your own, but well-stocked Japanese grocers will have powdered instant versions of this in stock. Here's one from Ajinomoto:
Note the green packaging to differentiate it from the red/pink katsuo versions. We use kombudashi often at home, and in miso soup etc the taste is not noticeably different from katsuodashi, although it does lack the strong "fishy" notes.
Miso is (usually) just a flavouring agent, so you almost certainly can substitute any other type of miso. The flavour will of course be slightly different, but it is not going to ruin the recipe.
Barley miso that has been fermented for a long time is quite dark with a very strong flavour, so you may want to increase the amount of white miso or other miso to taste.
Best Answer
Hondashi isn't really a substitute for the bonito flakes. It is a concentrate to make dashi...sort of like a bullion cube. It is made of msg, salt, sugar, yeast, and dried bonito. In general, one would use about a teaspoon to a cup of water to make dashi. If you are beginning with prepared dashi, and looking for more umami, I might just add a bit at a time (1/4 tsp) and taste until you are satisfied. Alternately, you don't need bonito to make dashi. It can be as simple as kombu and water. So, this might, in part, depend on your use.