Salads & Salad Dressings
Dashi Koji Sauce 
A healthy and flavorful dashi with the flavor of both sesame and koji.
Origin of Gomadashi
Gomadashi is one of Saiki’s regional specialties. It is made with roasted white fish flakes, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and mirin and used as a topping for udon and ochazuke. I developed this koji dashi recipe without fish as an alternative to the local specialty.
Ingredients (makes about 1½ cups)
100 gm koji
40 gm (4½ tablespoons) roasted sesame seeds
1¾ teaspoons miso
1 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons saké
- Grind the rice koji to a powder, using a suribachi or mortar and pestle. Transfer the powder to another container.
- Lightly roast the sesame seeds, until the fragrance is released and the seeds start to pop. Transfer to a suribachi and grind well until it becomes powdery.
- Spread the miso on a wooden paddle and roast over a low flame until golden brown.
- Put the soy sauce and sake into a saucepan and boil. Remove from heat.
- Add the miso and koji to the sesame in the suribachi and begin to mix. While mixing, gradually add the soy sauce and saké (#4) until it is well combined.
Without a suribachi
- Boil the soy sauce and saké in a saucepan. Remove from heat and cool slightly to about 70 degrees, add the koji and stir well. Set aside overnight,
- The next day, add roasted sesame seeds, roasted miso and mix in a blender until well mixed.
This sauce can be used as a dashi in oden and udon. Or mix it with hot water for a simple soup. It can also be used as a dipping sauce for sashimi or a winter hot pot (nabemono).
It is especially good as a dipping sauce with white fish (like sea bream (tai) or halibut) or in a fish/sashimi chazuke. Try it with cold noodle dishes such as somen, hiyamugi, and hiyashiudon.