Hi Maria,

Thank you so much for visiting my website! I’m happy to hear that you’re interested in Japanese cooking and that you’ve found my recipes approachable and enjoyable to follow.

Regarding your question about yellow miso paste, from my experience living in England (and a quick look at what’s currently available there), miso isn’t usually labeled as “yellow miso.” I think that term is more commonly used in the U.S. In England, you’ll often find white and red miso I think. Yellow miso is essentially a blend of the two, so you can simply mix white and red miso in roughly equal parts to achieve a yellow (blended) flavor. Also, if you find a tub labeled simply as “miso paste,” it’s often quite close to yellow miso in taste and color.

I hope this helps you get started with your meal planning and that you’ll enjoy exploring Japanese flavors at home. Wishing you lots of enjoyment in your cooking journey!

Yuto

I’m new to Japanese cooking, but after visiting a couple of Traditional Japanese restaurants: one in London and one in Kent; I fell in love with Japanese food.

Searching the net for beginners recipes I came across your recipes. You most certainly made them achievable, seems enjoyable to cook, easy to follow and looks that they are very tasty to!!!

Anyway, working full-time, which includes unsociable hours and 13 hours shifts, I like to plan a family meals for a week and shop accordingly.

One of the meals requires the use of yellow miso paste. I’m really struggling to find it.
What can I use as an alternative? Please advise.

Really looking forward to cooking your delicious food and enjoying recently discovered immensely tasty Japanese cuisine.

With Thanks,

Viola.

Hi Mary

I’m not too familiar with Korean dashi, but my understanding is that it has a stronger profile. It would be a great sub for heartier dishes where dashi isn’t the main note, but for something delicate like a clear soup, I’d stick with Japanese dashi stock.

Yuto

Hi Steven,

Thank you so much for your kind words!

The best substitute depends on how you plan to use the dashi granules.
1. If you’re only adding a small amount for flavor (such as in my salmon fried rice recipe or kinpira gobo recipe), you can use bouillon powder or MSG in slightly smaller quantities.
2. If you need to prepare dashi stock, unsalted chicken stock or vegetable stock would work as emergency alternatives.

Interestingly, in Japan, some people even use ketchup in extreme emergencies, since both contain glutamic acid (umami). However, this is not a substitute I would personally recommend too much.

I hope this helps!

Yuto