In Japanese cooking, “ohitashi” is the name of a process as well as a type of dish where various ingredients, especially vegetables, are marinated in an umami-rich liquid. The word ohitashi comes from the verb hitasu, which means to soak or immerse.
The marinating liquid usually contains dashi, the foundation stock for so many Japanese dishes, but it can also be a simple concoction of soy sauce or commercial mentsuyu (noodle sauce). When the ingredients have been marinated in the liquid for a while, they soak up the flavors, making them really tasty. Ohitashi is one of the fundamental cooking methods in washoku; it’s also healthy as the standard formula does not contain oil — you can adjust the amount of sodium by reducing the soy sauce.
Ohitashi is a great way to enjoy seasonal vegetables, from nanohana (flowerbuds of the rapeseed plant) in spring, okra in summer, mushrooms in fall and shungiku (chrysanthemum greens) and spinach in winter. The marinating liquid enhances the umami and sweetness inherent in the vegetables.
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