When you are in a relationship with someone who grew up on the other side of the world, you are sometimes exposed to things that would previously have seemed totally alien. Into this category for me fall things like: having a dedicated “snack drawer” in the kitchen, showering before bedtime, and those weird packing cubes you put clothes in before then putting the packing cube itself inside the suitcase. Your list might read something like: skiing, marmite, unstructured free time on holidays and scotch eggs.
Being exposed to new things, perspectives and ways of doing stuff is one of my favourite things. It stops me from getting bored for a start, but it also makes you think about the world in a different way. Take soup. Where I am from, soups are generally overcooked vegetables, stock and cream whizzed up into a semi-starchy, thick-ish pulp. Sometimes from a can, pretty much always eaten with bread and butter, and usually as a disappointing replacement for an actual meal. I used to hate soup.
But for you, soup is different. It is typically light, fun, full of non-mushy vegetables and fun proteins. It is a sidekick to a main dish, not a replacement for it. Your soups are sometimes spicy. Or fishy. Or porky. They are the unexpected guest at dinner who adds some colour and variety to the usual proceedings. Now I’d say I quite like soup.
Ochazuke is a pretty simple dish that is soupy but not soup. Our version of it was borne out of a desire to use up leftovers – often including rice and a random assortment of other fridge bits – and to stay warm in the cold-ass Japanese winter when we are too cheap to turn the heating on all day and wanted something comforting for lunch.
A&A’s Ochazuke
Makes enough for a one person serving. For more people, just scale up the water/stock amounts accordingly.
SHOPPING LIST
This dish is really about using up leftovers, so get a bit creative here. As long as you can make the broth you can get pretty experimental on the rest.
Broth
1. Dashi/stock packet – Half a packet.
2. Soy Sauce – Splash.
3. Sliced green onion – Small handful.
4. Tea – Something fun, like green tea or roasted barley tea work well. Put a teaspoon or two into a disposable tea bag if using loose-leaf.
Toppings
Rice is essential. Everything else is optional.
1. Rice - One small Chinese soup bowl.
2. Green veggies – Whatever you have, cut up small. Spinach/Chinese greens all good.
3. Other veggies – Mushrooms fried in garlic, stir fried garlic scapes etc.
4. Pickled things – Tsukemono, menma etc
5. Protein – Use anything you have. Raw fish, cooked chicken, fish balls or slice, shredded ham etc. Ideally it should be cooked already or able to cook quickly in hot broth (like sliced raw fish).
6. Fun textures – Tofu, furikake, sesame seeds, nori, ramen eggs etc.
7. Fun flavours – Sesame oil, yuzu, chopped chill etc. Serve on the side with the finished dish and add as you go.
HOW TO MAKE
1. To make the broth, put about 500ml of water in a pan and add half of one dashi/sock packet. Bring to the boil, then turn off the heat and add the teabag. Leave for 3-5 mins. Then remove the teabag and dispose of it. Leaving it in or adding and continuing to boil will make it bitter. Taste and add a little soy sauce if needed. You can also add additional flavour if you have (for example) the marinating solution from ramen eggs or other similar sauce. Add a small amount of green onion.
2. Place the rice in the bottom of a large bowl (make sure the rice is hot).
3. Prepare all your toppings (e.g. fry mushrooms, if using, and have everything else chopped if needed). For green veggies or any other toppings that won’t cook in the residual heat of the broth in the bowl when served, you can now put them in the broth (as long as the teabag is removed) and bring the broth back to the boil until they are cooked.
4. Put all the toppings on the rice in the bowl. Then pour over a generous amount of hot stock. Note: Raw or frozen sliced fish should cook in the bowl as long as it is thin enough and the broth is hot enough, so usually no need to cook the fish in the broth first.