Pop Japan

Rice is the staple food of Japan.

In fact, a lot of dishes has already been created out of rice, whether they are for appetizers, main course, snacks and most importantly, dessert. Some actually require a meeticulous preparation while others can be made in a few simple steps. One of those easy to prepare rice snacks is the chazuke or ochazuke. This has been a popular rice snack because it is just easy to prepare and requires only left-over rice and some of your favorite toppings. Simply put your cold rice on a bowl. Bring some water into a boil. Dissolve some matcha powder, or some dashi if you desire more flavoring. Then, pour that flavored hot water onto your cooked rice. Top your rice bowl with either tsukemono or Japanese pickles, or nori or seaweed for more flavor. You can also use umeboshi or pickled ume fruis, furikake or Japanese seasoning, seasame seeds, salted salmon, chicken or meat, with a pinch of wasabi for a kick.

Photo by Hajime NAKANO. Licensed under Creative Commons. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Tags: food, rice, japan, rice snack, chazuke, ochazuke, rice toppings, dashi, matcha, umeboshi, furikake, salted salmon, wasabi