While in Japan I saw a television show on the merits of using ketchup as a replacement for ‘dashi.’ Why this fascinated me in particular is that I had been on the search for a replacement. Dashi typically uses seaweed and fish, which is problematic for strict vegetarians and vegans. Even seaweed may be too “fishy” for some people.
From past food articles and podcasts I had already known tomatoes are high in umami. Because of the way ketchup is produced, it concentrates the umami into a very small volume. What the television show provided was actual data that showed how much umami and kokumi is present in ketchup. There is so much in there and it is present in a manner that diluting ketchup by ten or even fifty times does not reduce the amount of umami and kokumi that is experienced by the tongue.
Over the past few days, now that I’m back in the kitchen again, I’ve been using diluted ketchup to enhance the flavors of various dishes. The results so far have been positive. The miso soup made using ketchup instead of traditional dashi seemed to be okay. This evening’s stir-fry vegetables and tofu also included a bit of ketchup in the sauce. Shelley noted how good this particular stir-fry was. When asked, I couldn’t recall anything I did differently from past versions, but later this evening I realized that I did add one key ingredient that was different – ketchup.
The key is to use ketchup sparingly. One teaspoon (or even half) into a single family dish should be more than sufficient. You don’t want to taste the ketchup… unless of course that’s what you want. Dilute, dilute, dilute…
With this knowledge I might even be able to put together Asian dishes for church dinners without scratching my head as to where to obtain the necessary umami and kokumi.
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