About the Recipe
I don't think anyone can put a reliable date on the invention of this dish but it certainly goes back 1,000 years or more. At some point in history, the Japanese hit upon the idea that they could make old rice more palatable by immersing it in a hot liquid. For a few hundred years, the liquid was probably just warm water. Then, during the green tea boom of the 15th Century, somebody (no doubt an enterprising tea merchant) hit upon the idea of making ochazuke using hot green tea (BTW "ochazuke" literally means "steeped in green tea") and thus a classic Jpanese dish was made. Ochazuke is generally loved for being a comfort food in japan, something for when we don't feel quite well and just want something soothing and warm to nourish us. Not that you have to feel unwell to enjoy a bowl of ochazuke - you can eat this anytime you have a little leftover rice and want to resurrect it into a simple, wholesome meal.
Ingredients
1 spring onion
a handful of rocket
1/2 nori sheet
250g salmon
1/2 tsp salt
400ml boiling water
1 heaped tsp of japanese dashi granules
500g cooked rice
2 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
a little wasabi
Preparation
rinse and finely slice the spring onion
rinse and roughly cut the rocket
halve the nori sheet and then halve twice more, making a little square, then shred using scissors
saute the salmon in a non-stick frying pan with a little salt for 3 minutes
turn over and sprinkle over the rest of the salt & cook for a further 3 minutes (approx.)
remove the skin from the salmon in a bowl and break the flesh up into small pieces
pour the dashi granules into the boiling water in a jug & stir until the granules have dissolved
to assemble:
place 1/2 the rice in each serving bowl, scatter 1/2 the flaked salmon over the rice. sprinkle over the sesame seeds, spring onion & shredded nori, then add a little ball of wasabi on top with 1/2 the rocket
finally pour 1/2 of the dashi stock into each bowl. serve immediately