Spinach Ohitashi Japanese side dish

Ohitashi Spinach is a very popular Japanese dish featuring fresh spinach in a dashi broth. It can be found on nearly every Japanese home table as it is extremely easy to prepare and very tasty and healthy. Whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner, the Japanese love it. Ohitashi (お浸し) is basically a preparation method in which a type of vegetable is marinated in a dashi-based sauce and served. This common Japanese cooking technique ensures that the vegetables get a full-bodied umami flavor through the dashi base. You can either enhance or soften the flavor of the dashi base with different ingredients. For a stronger dashi broth, simply use a little more katsuobushi flakes. For this dish, you definitely need fresh leaf spinach, not the spinat with the blubb or other already processed spinach dishes. The fresh spinach is only blanched for this, which means it is dipped in a very hot to boiling water bath for 20 to 30 seconds and immediately cooled with cold, ideally ice-cold water. The special thing about this and other Ohitashi dishes is the slightly longer shelf life. For example, you can prepare this dish a little bit and prepare 2 kg of fresh spinach and then store it in the dashi dressing broth in the refrigerator for up to 2 to 3 days! So you always have some Ohitashi spinach ready when you feel like it. The light taste of this side dish reflects the entire character of Japanese cuisine: Light, lightly seasoned, natural flavor! Have fun cooking :)