Salmon Ochazuke （さけお茶漬け）- Keegan

Ochazuke is a traditional dish in Japan.  Many find it to be a delightful snack, illness "hangover" cure or an all-around satisfying meal.  

I first had Ochazuke during my college years, when my Ma would send me off with a few packets, for a quick meal, or to cure a self-induced illness.  Unfortunately, I never used these until my senior year, when Jaymie introduced me to the wonders of this soup.  

We decided on this recipe after we had a traditional, non-instant, version of this soup at Hacho Japanese Restaurant, in Santa Clara.  It was made with real salmon, roasted rice balls, a secret house sauce, nori (dried seaweed), rice, and genmai green tea.  The recipe here, is our interpretation of that dish, made from ingredients found at any local Asian market. 

what you'll need:

1 cup white rice

1 bag green tea, genmai recommended

salt to taste - about 1 tsp

1/3 lb salmon

2 nori strips

ochazuke wakame (rice cracker & seaweed mix)

mitsuba (Japanese parsley)

wasabi (if you like it hot!)

First thing that you'll want to do is cook the rice.  This will be the most time consuming part of the recipe.  While the rice is cooking, salt your salmon generously, and set aside until rice is done.  

Next, prepare the mitsuba by chopping off the stems, so you are left with just the leaves.  


Next, prepare the salmon by slicing into 1/4" thick slices.  

Once the rice is done, dish out one scoop of rice into a soup sized bowl, lay down 1 strip of nori, and place salmon neatly on top of nori strip.  

Now just sprinkle the cut up Japanese parsley and ochazuke wakame on top.

The last step is to pour the boiling hot green tea right on top of everything.  Below you can see how quickly the salmon cooks during the pouring.  **Note: you can also broil the salmon beforehand if you prefer not to have raw fish touching the rice**

And that's all folks! Consume. Serves 2, estimated 15-20 minute prep/cook time.