1) Rinse rice in lots of running cold water.
2) Cook rice in a rice cooker or in a pot on
the stove.
Make the Sencha Tea:
1) Sencha is a green tea from Japan.
2) It has a rich, spinachy flavor that makes
an
excellent "broth" for
the soup.
3) You will need about four cups of tea.
4) Use 1 teaspoon loose leaf sencha tea per
cup of water.
5) Don't use boiling water - let it cool down
to about
170 degrees. Boiling
water will stew and overcook the
delicate tea leaves.
6) Let the sencha steep for 3 minutes - no longer
because
it will get bitter.
Possible Topping for the Ochazuke:
1) Chazuke seasoning packets, available in Asian
stores
2) Bok choy, washed and thinly sliced
3) Carrots, washed and grated
4) Other vegetables like radishes, watercress,
savoy cabbage
salmon, baked in the
oven and crumbled or flaked into
pieces
5) Japanese pickled plums
6) Wasabi horseradish paste
7) Crumbled nori seaweed sheets
Serving the Ochazuke:
1) With an ice cream scoop, scoop a big portion
of rice into
a bowl.
2) Add several of the toppings.
3) Pour some of the sencha tea over the rice
and toppings
to make a soup.
4) Enjoy!
1) Mix sugar, soy sauce and mirin in a saucepan.
2) Bring to a boil over high heat.
3) Reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute.
4) Use half the teriyake sauce to baste the
salmon fillets
before baking.
5) Bake the salmon steaks at 350 degrees for
16 to 20
minutes.
6) Save the rest of the teriyake sauce to drizzle
over the
salmon when serving.
Cucumber-Ginger Salad:
1) 2 cucumbers, washed and thinly sliced
2) 3 ounces pickled ginger, available in Asian
section of
grocery stores
3) 2 tablespoons sugar
4) 8 tablespoons rice vinegar
5) 2 tablespoons dashi
6) 4 teaspoons mirin
7) 4 teaspoons soy sauce
1) Combine sliced cucumber with pickled ginger.
2) Mix sugar, vinegar, dashi, mirin and soy
sauce to make
the tazazu salad dressing.
3) Reserve the tozazu salad dressing to pour
over the
salad when serving.
Jasime Rice:
1) 3 cups jasmine rice
2) 3 1/4 cup water
3) furikake topping
1) Rinse rice in lots of running cold water.
2) Cook rice in a rice cooker or in a pot on
the stove.
3) Use the furikake topping to sprinkle on the
rice
when serving.
Serving the Bento Boxes:
1) You can serve this Japanese meal in a bento
box or on
a plate.
2) Use a spring of two of watercress for a garnish
under the
salmon.
3) Put the salmon on the watercress and drizzle
with the
teriyake sauce.
4) Put a small mound of the cucumber-ginger
salad on the
plate. Spoon a bit
of the tazazu salad dressing over the
salad.
5) Place an ice cream scoop of jasmine rice
on the plate.
6) Sprinkle some of the furikake topping on
the rice.
7) Add a small bunch of grapes for dessert.
8) Enjoy with a pot of Japanese green tea -
Gen Mai Cha or
Hohicha!
Shopping Notes:
1) You can use ready made teriyake sauce on
the salmon.
2) You can substitute ready made ponzu sauce
for the
tazazu salad dressing.
3) We suggest thinning the ponzu sauce with
some water
and adding a bit of
sugar.
4) If you can't find the furikake topping, there
are several
options:
a) crumble some nori seaweed sheets
b) sprinkle sesame seeds
c) sprinkle some chopped scallions over
the rice