Ochazuke (お茶漬け, tea over rice)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Kyūsu (Japanese side-handle teapot), or any small teapot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth for dashi
• •Small fish grill (yakiami), toaster oven, or broiler if cooking shiozake

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pour

   Choose one pour: tea for the plainer home bowl, dashi for dashi-chazuke. For sencha, use water around 175 F / 80 C and steep 60 to 90 seconds; for hōjicha or genmaicha, use water just off the boil. Strain the tea so it tastes clean enough to drink, because there is no sauce coming later to hide bitterness. For dashi, put the konbu in 2 1/2 cups cold water and warm it slowly. Lift it out when the water trembles, before it boils. Add the katsuobushi, take the pan off the heat, wait 2 minutes, then strain without squeezing. Boiled konbu turns the liquid bitter, and squeezed flakes give it a rough, oily edge. Season the dashi lightly with usukuchi shōyu and salt.

   The pour should be clear and light. If you choose dashi, don't reach for instant granules here; the stock is doing quiet work, and salt alone cannot do it.
2. 2

   Ready the rice

   Divide the hot rice between two bowls. For the clearest finish, rinse the cooked rice briefly with hot water and drain it well before it goes into the bowls. The rinse removes loose surface starch, so the tea stays bright instead of cloudy. Freshly cooked rice can also go straight in for a softer home-style bowl.

3. 3

   Prepare the toppings

   If the shiozake is not already cooked, grill it until the surface is lightly browned and the flakes separate, 6 to 8 minutes depending on thickness. Flake it into large pieces and discard bones; small crumbs disappear in the rice, while larger flakes season distinct bites. If using umeboshi, remove the pit and tear the plum into pieces. Tear the nori at the last moment, because its fragrance fades and its crisp edge softens fast.

4. 4

   Build the bowls

   Set the rice in each bowl with a little height. Add one modest mound of salmon or umeboshi, a small scatter of sesame, and nori in loose strips. Pour the hot tea or dashi down the inner side of the bowl until the rice is half covered, not submerged. The liquid should carry the seasoning from the topping through the grains; too much turns the bowl thin.

   The topping is the seasoning. If your salmon is not salted, add a small pinch of salt or a few drops of shōyu before pouring, then stop.
5. 5

   Finish and eat

   Finish with mitsuba or scallion, arare if you have it, and a small dab of wasabi to dissolve bite by bite. Serve at once. Ochazuke waits badly: the rice swells, the nori slackens, and the bowl loses the clean contrast that made it worth making.

Chef Tips

• •Use hot rice. Cold rice turns the pour lukewarm before the bowl reaches the table, and then you have made rice in tea, not ochazuke.
• •Buy shiozake if you can. It should smell clean and look moist, never tired or weeping. Fresh salmon can stand in if you salt it for 30 minutes before grilling, but call it a stand-in and let it behave like one.
• •The topping must be assertive. Salted salmon, umeboshi, tsukudani, or pickles do the seasoning; a bland piece of fish is just cargo.
• •For a meatless bowl, use hot tea or a konbu-shiitake dashi: soak the konbu and 2 dried shiitake caps overnight, warm gently, and strain. With umeboshi, nori, and sesame, that's honmono, not a compromise.
• •Tear nori only at the end. Its fragrance is quick to leave, and a whole sheet kept sealed tastes brighter than strips that have sat out politely losing their courage.

Advance Preparation

• •Dashi keeps two days refrigerated. Reheat it gently and do not boil it hard, or the clean edge you made will dull.
• •Salted salmon can be grilled and flaked one day ahead. Keep it covered in the refrigerator and warm it lightly before serving.
• •Leftover rice works well if reheated with a spoonful of water until hot. Do not start with cold rice unless you want the whole bowl to taste half-awake.
• •Keep nori sealed until serving. Tear it just before it meets the rice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)