Ochazuke (お茶漬け), is a well-known traditional Japanese cuisine. It is a dish where you pour tea broth over rice, that’s why ochazuke is also called tea-rice or Green Tea on Rice. Ochazuke is a comfort food for when you want to have a light but warm meal during cold weather or even serve it cold tea during summer.
Ochazuke is nationally famous as most Japanese people love Ochazuke. They even have an anniversary day for Ochazuke that falls on the 17th of May every year.
What is Ochazuke?
Ochazuke, the wording of “Ocha” means Tea, “zuke” means submerged. Therefore Ochazuke basically means submerged (rice) with tea. You may find other names on the internet such as “tea-rice”. The Japanese people usually eat rice with Green Tea or Dashi, together with some toppings such as pickled vegetables or meats such as Salmon. The toppings are usually the leftovers from your fridge, that’s why it is always simple and easy to prepare.
The usual Ochazuke is served with hot tea, but during the summer period, they also eat it with cold tea such as cold Ryokucha or Mugicha because the weather is hot. They call these as Hiyashi-Ochazuke, the cold version of Ochazuke.
Besides Ochazuke, there are also other ways that serve the similar way. If you eat it with hot water only, they call it Mizu-zuke (水漬け) or Yu-zuke (湯漬け). If you eat it with cold water, it’s called Sui-han (水飯). But usually, the people tend to go with Green Tea, or Dashi if you want your meal to be tastier.
Ochazuke Toppings
What kind of toppings you should prepare? Preparing toppings are usually not that hard because you can simply use any leftover ingredients in your fridge.
Traditionally, the Japanese people eat it with pickled vegetables such as pickled daikon (radish) together with Nori (seaweed) or cooked salmon. Today, you may add your own toppings according to your own taste.
Ochazuke Broth
You might be wondering when it comes to Ochazuke, why some of them are talking about broth instead of Tea? isn’t it the Tea should be the main thing?
The classic broth for Ochazuke will be the Japanese Green Tea. They don’t really specific on what type of Tea you should prepare, so any tea is fine. (But not milk tea!) To get better taste and also due to commercialize, most of the shops today provide the option of Dashi. That is why Ochazuke is not only about Tea, but also broth.
There are 5 types of Broth that are frequently used:
- Green Tea or Ryokucha
- Dashi stock
- Genmaicha
- Hojicha
- Sencha
How to Make Ochazuke?
After knowing what is the ingredients and the broth option, you might be curious about whether you can make your own Ochazuke at home. Of course! I will say making Ochazuke is quite easy, ingredients preparations are also not that hard.
Basically, get your toppings, tea (or broth), and cooked rice ready then you’re good to go.
Here’s some Ochazuke recipe you might want to try:
Story & History behind Ochazuke
You might be wondering why the Japanese people like to submerge the rice with tea? You may notice it is quite common to find people cook the rice with hot water (steamed rice), with soup or broth (a good example will be Paella). However, eating with Tea is somehow rare.
During the old days, there’s one old dish from the Japanese temple, where they call it “Cha-kayu” (茶粥). Unlike the usual way to make Ochazuke, they cook the rice porridge together with the tea leaves. Sometimes they also add other ingredients such as beans and vegetables into Cha-kayu besides tea leaves.
The Japanese people usually have Ochazuke as an appetizer or serve it as the last dish to refresh their taste after some heavy meals. In Nagoya Prefecture, a place that is famous with Hitsumabushi (Grilled Eel Rice), before they finish the meal, they will add Hot Tea for a different taste. Similarly in Shizuoka Prefecture, a place that is nationally famous for their Tea, they have similar dishes called “Unacha”, where they eat the Grilled Eel with Tea.
Until today, the origins of Ochazuke are unknown and undefinable. Here are some stories illustrating how Ochazuke was found.
Heian Period / Edo Period
The origins of Ochazuke is undefinable, there is a various version of origins. The earliest history of Ochazuke was during Heian period (794-1185), where the people have a culture of drinking tea and eating together with rice. During the middle of Edo period (1603-1687), they started to add toppings. The classic but famous toppings are Umeboshi, Cooked Salmon, Ikura (Salmon Roe), or even Maguro (Tuna), almost every common ingredients that you can find on sushi can be used as toppings.
Initially, people only pour it with hot water, but when time passed by they start pouring hot tea into their rice with some simple toppings such as pickled vegetables. Today, most of the shops have come out with the option of Dashi instead of Tea because Dashi can make it more tasty and flavorful.
To Reheat the Rice
During the days before modern inventions such as stoves and electricity, it is common for people to cook over wood. After the rice is cooked, they will keep the rice in a rice tub (Meshi-bitsu, 飯櫃) where you could have been seen in Sushi shops. You can’t leave the rice as it on the pot because the rice will be overcooked or burnt.
When time passed, the rice gets cold and dry. It’s almost impracticable to reheat without modern equipment. This is why they start submerging the rice with Hot Tea to warm it up again and get a better taste like the rice is just freshly cooked.
Time saving
Another origins was during the old days, the servitors who works for the Samurai or businessmen are extremely busy for their work. They rarely have time for their meals, so they decided to eat it in a quick and fast pace, and here comes the origins of Ochazuke. It was also said that they were strictly monitored by their superior to ensure they utilize their time for work, so this is what happened naturally under these circumstances.
FAQ about Ochazuke
- What toppings can I add?
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Preparing toppings are usually not that hard because you can simply use any leftover ingredients in your fridge. Traditionally, the Japanese people eat it with pickled vegetables such as pickled daikon (radish) together with Nori (seaweed) or cooked salmon. However you may add your own toppings according to your own taste.
- Recommended Toppings?
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If you have not much time or just want to make your life easy, Here’s a few universal toppings:
– Most of the Fishes: Shake (Salmon) or Maguro (Tuna) + Nori (Seaweed)
– Vegetables series: Pickled Daikon, Yamaimo (Dioscorea Japonica) or Umeboshi etc.
These are the combinations that can hardly goes wrong. - What type of Tea or Broth is suitable?
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Actually any Green Tea is fine. There are 5 types of Broth that are frequently used.
- Green Tea or Ryokucha
- Dashi stock
- Genmaicha
- Hojicha
- Sencha
Each tea have their unique taste and some might goes well with certain toppings. (Eg: Genmaicha matches well with Fishes and Negi.)
Generally these 4 are the universal options for all Ochazuke recipe. I will suggest you not to take the Matcha because it is not really suitable to make Ochazuke. Basically any common Japanese green tea that you can get in the supermarket is fine, but not milktea!
