Valeria G. | Una gatta in cucina

The Ochazuke (literally “soak in green tea”) is a japanese recipe that combines the main ingredients of  their cuisine: rice and green tea.

The dish is really easy to make and provides a way to use leftover rice, with a classic sencha green tea or for a particular taste, you can use the genmaicha, which is a green tea with the addition of toasted brown rice (I love it). You can also personalize the plate with everything that you have in the fridge  or pantry. Japanese usually enrich him with nori seaweed, rice crackers, umeboshi plums, sesame seeds, salmon or chicken, parsley, green onions… there is no limit to creativity!

The basic ingredients are the dashi broth, green tea, and of course, rice. If you use the dashi broth powder ( you can find it easily in organic shops or in the asian market) in 10 minutes you will have your Ochazuke steaming bowl in front of you. But here I’ll teach you how to make a good dashi broth at home, genuine and delicious. (I often use it as a soup, add the miso, tofu cubes, gomasio and seadweeds. It’s a perfect comfort food Japanese style).

Dashi broth:
– 10 cm of konbu seaweed
– 500 ml water + 60 ml
– 20 grams of dried tuna flakes (katsuo)
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 teaspoon of soy sauce

How to do it: Wash the konbu seaweed, put it in a pot with water and let soak for an hour. After this time put it on the stove and bring to boil. Remove konbu, add 60 ml of cold water,  bring to boil again and pour the tuna flakes. Turn off and strain the broth. Say sauce to taste.

Ochazuke | Ingredients for 1 person:
– 50 grams of steamed rice for sushi
– 1 cup of green tea (sencha or genmaicha)
– 1 cup dashi broth
– 1 spring onion
– Salmon fillet
– Nori seaweed
– Gomasio
– Wasabi

How to do it: Heat the rice in bamboo basket (I lined with parchment paper, so it doesn’t stick). In the meantime, bring a pot of water to a boil, turn off, add the tea and let steep for 5 minutes. Take the salmon fillet and cook it in a lightly oiled skillet. Cook for 8-10 minutes. Break into small pieces. Slice the onion and seaweed into thin strips. We compose the bowl by putting the rice, salmon, seaweed, spring onion, season with gomasio and a bit’ of wasabi. Just before serving, add the dashi broth into hot green tea bowl and pour over rice… Itadakimasu!