Ochazuke

During my childhood trips to Japan, family gifted us with what appeared to be tiny seeds, causing a minor customs incident on our return to Australia due to my fascination with them. Those “seeds” turned out to be instant ochazuke packets. Ochazuke is a traditional Japanese dish of tea and rice, which I’ve embraced with my own twist by adding vegetables, eggs and salmon. It’s become a cherished winter comfort meal, combining simplicity, flavour and a touch of my dual heritage.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 3 tsp genmaicha (brown rice green tea)
• 2 cups (500 ml) boiling water
• 20 g butter
• 1 carrot, quartered lengthways and thinly sliced
• 4 sticks of celery, thinly sliced
• salt, to taste
• soy sauce, to taste
• 1 tbsp dried kombu (seaweed for soup)
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups cooked white short-grain rice
• 150 g cooked salmon (skin on)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced

To serve (optional)

• umeboshi (Japanese salty/sour plum), chilli oil or chilli crisp, fried shallots

Instructions

1. Combine the genmaicha and boiling water in a small teapot and set aside to brew.

2. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables and cook, stirring, for 5-7 minutes, or until softened. Pour the brewed genmaicha over the vegetables and season to taste with salt and soy sauce to taste. You want the soup base to be flavourful, not overly salty.

3. Add the kombu and bring the broth to the boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, gently crack the eggs into the soup and stir, ensuring the yolks remain whole. After 2 minutes, remove from the heat.

4. Divide the rice between bowls. Flake the salmon with a fork (reserving the skin) and top the rice with the fish. Slice the salmon skin into thin strips. Heat the sesame oil in a small non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and pan-fry the salmon skin for 3 minutes, or until crisp. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate.

5. Ladle the genmaicha broth over the rice, ensuring each bowl is allocated 1 egg yolk, taking care not to break it. To finish, drizzle over extra soy sauce, spring onion, umeboshi, chilli oil, fried shallots and the crisp salmon skin. Serve.

Note

This dish can be made vegetarian by substituting the salmon with fried tofu (but you should add it to the soup around step 4 instead).

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

All Taste, No Waste

Watch the full episode here

PG

Watch the full episode here

PG