Spinach Ohitashi (Japanese Spinach Salad in Dashi)

Spinach ohitashi is a simple dish made with blanched spinach soaked in a soy and dashi based sauce. It's tasty and makes a great side dish for any Japanese meal!

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What is ohitashi?

Ohitashi (お浸し) is a simple side dish made with blanched vegetables that have been soaked in a dashi based sauce. Because of the short cooking time, the vegetables maintain their natural colour and texture whilst the sauce lightly flavours them and adds subtle umami.

While many Japanese people (including myself until recently!) believe ohitashi is simply the name of the dish, it's actually the name of the type of preparation/cooking method!

The name derived from the process of soaking food in dashi, but this process is often omitted these days. Simply boiling the vegetables and pouring soy sauce over them can also be called ohitashi.

History of ohitashi

Funnily enough, in ancient times, ohitashi was known as "hitashimono" or "soaked things".

Documents from the Nara period (710-794) suggest that this method of preparation existed then, but the phrase "hitashimono" appears in a record from 1517.

In the Edo period (1603-1868), there were also dishes using marine products such as abalone, sea cucumbers, and jellyfish as ingredients, but after the Meiji period (1868-1912), ohitashi made simply with vegetables and soy sauce became the mainstream.

Because of this, ohitashi can be translated to mean "soy flavoured boiled greens".

How to eat ohitashi

Ohitashi is usually served cold and sprinkled with katsuobushi (bonito flakes).

You can make a vegan version by using a kombu and shiitake dashi (I have my own homemade vegan dashi recipe here), then sprinkling it with sesame seeds instead of katsuobushi.

I recommend serving ohitashi as part of a Japanese style set meal. Rice, miso soup, pickles and a main dish served with ohitashi on the side. It makes a perfectly balanced meal!

Other vegetables that you can use for ohitashi

Spinach is the most popular choice of vegetables for ohitashi without a doubt, but there are other vegetables you can use too.

According to Goo Ranking (2015), the top 10 vegetables for ohitashi are below:

1. Spinach: 842 votes
2. Canola flower: 148 votes
3. Eggplant: 140 votes
4. Japanese mustard spinach: 118 votes
5. Okra: 105 votes
6. Crown daisy: 61 votes
7. Beansprouts: 58 votes
8. Jew's mallow: 58 votes
9. Nappa cabbage: 57 votes
10. Asparagus: 44 votes

So if you're not a fan of spinach, perhaps you can try making ohitashi with another vegetable! My personal favourites are canola flower and eggplant.

One great thing about the spinach version though, it how quick it is to make!

Tips and tricks to make an amazing spinach ohitashi at home

Here are a few simple tips and tricks that you can easily use to make perfect spinach ohitashi at home!

Soak the spinach in cold water first

While you're bringing your pot of water to boil, it's good to soak the spinach leaves in cold water. This helps maintain the texture of spinach.

Stems first

When blanching the spinach, hold the spinach at the top of the leaves and then place the stems in the boiling water first. We do this because the stem is thicker and needs a little longer to cook.

If you boil the whole plant at once, you will overcook the leaves and the taste and texture will deteriorate. I recommend 30 seconds just the stems and then the rest for an additional 20-30 seconds.

To prevent burning yourself, use tongs to hold the bunch of spinach in the boiling water stems-first.

Ice water

After blanching the spinach, immediately transfer them to ice water. This quick cooling method is to prevent them losing colour, taste and texture.

Once it's cooled down, squeeze the water out as much as possible to prevent spinach from being too wet and watering down the sauce.

Make happo dashi

Happo dashi is a condiment made with dashi stock, soy sauce, and mirin.

In happo dashi, the ratio of dashi to soy sauce to mirin is 10:1:1 , so even though the ingredients are the same as mentsuyu, (a type of concentrated noodle dipping sauce) happo dashi is a lot lighter in taste (less salty) as it contains more dashi.

Marinate in the sauce for at least 30 minutes

The flavour of ohitashi is determined by marinating it in the happo dashi sauce.

We need to marinate for at least 30 minutes, but if you have the time, a few hours is even better. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days but the flavour might get stronger over time.

Soaking is the most important step in making ohitashi and shouldn't be rushed.

Step by step recipe

Spinach Ohitashi (Japanese Spinach Salad in Dashi)

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• Author: Yuto Omura
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 3-4 servings 1x

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Description

How to make simple side dish "Spinach Ohitashi" (Japanese spinach salad soaked in dashi).

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 200ml dashi (or vegan dashi)
• 20ml (4 tsp) soy sauce
• 20ml (4 tsp) mirin
• 200g spinach
• pinch of salt
• bowl of ice cold water
• bonito flakes to garnish (replace with sesame seeds for vegetarians/vegans)

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Instructions

1. First make happo dashi by pouring 200ml dashi, 20ml soy sauce and 20ml of mirin into a saucepan.
2. Place it on the stove and heat it until it starts to boil.
3. Allow it to boil for 1-2 minutes and then turn off the heat. Leave it to cool to room temperature. 
4. Once your happo dashi has cooled, boil a new pot of water with a pinch of salt. Prepare a bowl of ice cold water next to it. 
5. When your water is boiling, take your spinach and hold it at the leaves. Submerge the stalks into the boiling water and hold it there for 30 seconds. (Hold it with tongs to prevent burning yourself.)
6. After 30 seconds have passed, submerge the rest of the spinach in the boiling water and continue to boil for another 30 seconds.
7. Turn off the heat and transfer the spinach immediately into the bowl of ice cold water.
8. Take the spinach out of the water and squeeze the water out as much as you can.
9. Cut the spinach into 4-5cm (approx 2 inch) long pieces and place it evenly into a container/Tupperware. 
10. Pour the happo dashi into the container. Rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 
11. Serve as a side dish with Japanese style meals and enjoy!

Notes

Keep leftovers in the refrigerator and use within 3 days.

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Soaking time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Category: Sides
• Method: Blanching
• Cuisine: Japanese

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