Replacing water with tomato jus when making dashi ups the glutamates and by extension the umami by a lot. It does however add sweetness. To curb this I used vine tomatoes (the most neutral tasting of large grocery store tomato breeds), pureed them, and simmered for about 20 minutes before clarifying through a damp kitchen towel, straight into a container with kombu and dried mushrooms.
The resulting dashi is one of the strongest vegan dashis I’ve made. It’s a little sweet and sour so it competes with your tare and oil. Adding earthy mayu and salty shoyu are attempts to balance it – and I’ve gotta say it’s going pretty well. The flavor in this plant based shoyu is rich, salty, subtly sweet, and an umami punch in the face.
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Replacing water with tomato jus when making dashi ups the glutamates and by extension the umami by a lot. It does however add sweetness. To curb this I used vine tomatoes (the most neutral tasting of large grocery store tomato breeds), pureed them, and simmered for about 20 minutes before clarifying through a damp kitchen towel, straight into a container with kombu and dried mushrooms.
The resulting dashi is one of the strongest vegan dashis I’ve made. It’s a little sweet and sour so it competes with your tare and oil. Adding earthy mayu and salty shoyu are attempts to balance it – and I’ve gotta say it’s going pretty well. The flavor in this plant based shoyu is rich, salty, subtly sweet, and an umami punch in the face.