House Special of the Week: Ochazuke

We all know that green tea is for drinking right? But in Japan, there is another way of using green tea and that is by cooking Ochazuke.

Ochazuke is a dish in which hot tea is poured over cooked white rice topped with a few simple ingredients. It's very simple to prepare - simply pour tea over cooked rice!

Ochazuke is commonly served at the very end of an elaborate Japanese full course meal. It's also favored as a midnight snack, a hangover cure, or just when you want something hot and filling. It's commonly made with leftover rice, though ideally the rice should be heated up if it's cold.

Nowadays, Ochazuke can be bought in ready to use packets in groceries and convenience stores. They vary in flavor such as pickled plum, salmon, wasabi and sea urchin. But if still like the taste of home cooking then here's a simple recipe on how to do Ochazuke:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups of rice
• hot green tea
• Toppings: basic ones are arare, tiny rice cracker pellets or crumbled rice crackers of another sort, and shredded nori seaweed. Optional: wasabi, pickled plum, salted salmon bits, mitsuba (a kind of herb), tiny semidried fish called jako, bonito flakes.

Procedure:
Put the rice in a bowl, Put on the toppings, and add a bit of salt to taste. Pour over hot green tea.

Now that's what you call simple!

Source:
http://www.justhungry.com/2004/01/ochazuke_rice_w.html
http://www.bento.com/trt-ochazuke.html