Muso From Japan - Umami Broth Dashi Powder, Vegan - 1.4oz, 4 Sachets (Pack of 1)

Love this product. I use it in cooking to add depth of flavor many dishes!

I used to live near a Japanese restaurant that made the most delicious katsu don dish with shiitake mushrooms and onions in the world's most delicious sauce. I've since moved and have not found another restaurant that makes it with this type of sauce. I recently saw on Instagram a guy making katsu don but in his recipe he used vegetable stock and everyone in the comments was saying "omg no, you HAVE to use dashi for katsu don". I had never considered trying to make the dish myself cause I figured the sauce was way too complex for me to recreate, but this gave me some hope. I ordered this dashi and some dehydrated shiitake mushrooms off Amazon and my life is changed forever. When I tell you the sauce is EXACT I mean it. For the sauce I did 1 packet of dashi mixed in 2 cups of hot water, then 5 tbsp of mirin (I don't have sake so just did a little more), 4 tbsp of soy sauce and 4 tbsp of sugar. I then let the mushrooms and rehydrated shiitake mushrooms simmer in this for a while, maybe 20ish minutes or until the mushrooms have fully soaked in the flavor of the sauce. Then added a couple whisked eggs and let those cook for a few min until the yokes look done. WOW, I was blown away. My girlfriend was nearly in tears because it's been so long since we had a good katsu don with this sauce. I can't believe all this time it was so easy to make and I'm so happy I can now recreate one of my favorite restaurant dishes myself!

I made miso soup using this umami broth powder, and I’m not gonna lie—the moment I added it to the water, the aroma was incredible, and the taste was even better. I used 2 packets in 4 liters of water. The package has 4 packs in it. 1/2 of each pack is good for 1 cup of water.

What I expected

This is a fabulous product and we use it as the base for many different soups. I just wish it was less pricey, but since I haven't found a cheaper alternative or a similar vegan option locally I will continue to buy.

I was surprised by the tiny package but the packets inside are generous. They make a very subtle yet delicious and instantly crave-worthy broth. Highly salty but using just half a packet at a time either as soup broth or seasoning a larger dish, works great to dilute the salt. We’ll be buying more!

It worked for what it wasn't intended for

I bought the vegan version and made the mistake of adding half a packet to my homemade chicken soup, it's so very salty I almost could not eat the soup. It adds a tiny bit of umami flavor but was not what I was looking for.