dashi

When I hear the word "dashi", I think of "soup" or "stock".

But in Yamagata prefecture, "dashi" is a hodgepodge of veggies which is eaten to fight off natsubate (heat exhaustion).

I got the idea from a television show and it is super easy to put together.

A medium sized eggplant
3 okra
10 leaves shiso (perilla)
2 myoga (Japanese ginger)
2 small Japanese cucumber
2 tablespoons dashi-shoyu
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Mince the eggplant and put into a bowl of water to get out the aku (astringency)
Mince up the rest of the veggies.
Drain the water from the eggplant.
In a bowl, put all the veggies and drizzle the dashi-shoyu
Add the sesame seeds
Mix well and chill

NOTES: In Yamagata, they put this on top of their rice, but we enjoyed it on tofu. This was so easy to put together and so refreshing. I'm making this again.

FYI: if you cannot find dashi-shoyu where you are, it might be best to put some together. Of course the ratios might need to be tweaked but I think a 1 to 1 ratio of dashi (stock) to shoyu (soy sauce), would be a good start.

UPDATE: I noticed on my dashi shoyu that there were other ingredients like mirin & sugar in it, I found an easy recipe here, which might be a better start to making your own dashi-shoyu.

Enjoy!