Ochazuke: Tea and Rice Soup

Ok...I know this Japanese dish will sound very strange to westerners...but it is delicious, I promise. Absolutely one of my most favorite meals. Ochazuke means Tea-pickle. Its essentially rice with pickled vegetables and tea. It takes little time to make, and is very filling.

Rice
Genmai cha, Hoji cha or Jasmine tea. Oolongs might work...but japanese tea's will work the best.
Pickled Vegetables
Some Flavorings: spices or dashi or a little stock


Optoinal Toppings:
Some Rice crackers or Arare
Soy Sauce
Nori (toasted seaweed)
Cubed Tofu
Fried Egg
Peas
Green Onion
Ume Boshi (pickled plum)
Bean Sprouts
Toasted Sesame seeds
Wasabi (horseradish)
Rice vinegar
Bonito flakes (flakes of tuna)
Furikake (rice sprinkles?)
Fish
Konbu (a type of seaweed)
Shiso (a purple herb that is sort of like basil and oregano)
Jako (tiny dried fish)
Left over steamed vegetables
Pieces of steak....

Basically any asian stuff you have lying about. You could also just buy a Ochazuki flavor pack, like this one, thats how most japanese people make ochazuki now-a-days.

Pickled Vegetables:

You can buy them in the store, or make them yourself, which isn't hard.

1.) Thinly slice up about a cup or so of some veggies or fruits, in either in round or match stick shapes: carrots, radishes,plum, celery, ginger, cucumber, peach, turnips, eggplant, pineapple, cabbage, peppers, etc.
2.) Put the veggies/fruits in a plastic bag.
3.) Add in 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 Tbs. sugar and 3 Tbs. rice vinegar.
4.) Close the bag with some air in it and shake it up!
5.) after the veggies are well coated push the air out of the bag and close it.
6.) place a flat plate on top of the bag, and place a weight like a large can on top.
7.) Let the whole thing sit for 3 hours or even over night.
8.) Rinse off the veggies. You should be left with something that is crunchy, sweet, and acidic all at the same time. (japanese pickles-sokusekizuke- are not like western pickles at all, and if you've ever eaten those bright pink ginger slices with sushi, you've had pickled ginger!)

These pickles are good for about the same length of time as fresh fruit, 2-7 days.

Ochazuki:

1.) Scoop some rice in a bowl
2.) Put toppings on rice
3.) Pour Hot tea over rice and toppings, the same amount you might put in cereal.
4.) Eat.

Angry soup.... aka cream of basil soup

This is for you Charles. :)

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 Tbsp butter or margarine
Lots of garlic power and basil
Some oregano, parsley, black pepper and hot pepper if you like.
Dash of salt (only if the both you use has no salt)
ANGER

1.) Put the broth, spices and butter into a sauce pan.
2.) Turn the heat on the stove to med-high
3.) Direct your Rage and ANGER into the soup. Behold as your anger makes the soup boil in rage.
4.) Once the soup has soaked up all your anger, turn the heat down a bit and add the milk.
5.) As you simmer the soup slowly add the flour through a sifter stirring constantly so there are no lumps.
6.) Cook soup until it thickens with ANGER
7.) Eat.

If you really wanted to, you could add some vegetables, pasta or chicken/tofu pieces to the soup, but then it might get appeased and stop being so ANGRY.

Miso Soup

Miso soup is a sweet, tangy soup that hails from japan. Its one of my most favorite "comfort foods" to eat when I get a cold or relax in the afternoon and have a snack. It is a pretty simple soup to make, and it has tons of health benefits too.

Basic Ingredients:
Miso Paste
Dashi or Wakame Sea Weed + hot water or Vegetable soup stock
Scallions

Other Things you can add:
Mushrooms
Cubed Tofu
water chestnuts
somen noodles
Egg plant
Potatoes
Radish)
Thin pork slices (this would make the soup tonjiru)
Carrot

1.) Bring a few cups of dashi, soup stock or wakame seaweed + water to a boil.
2.) Once the soup boils turn the heat down, and keep it at a pre-boil temperature.
2.) add the solid/hard ingredients to the soup and cook until softened.
3.) Add disolve some miso paste into the soup. Once you do this, do not allow the soup to boil as this will change the flavor of the miso.
4.) Add soft ingredients and green vegetables to the miso and heat for a short time.
5.) Eat

Most Miso soups only have 1-3 ingredients in small quantities. Usually an item that floats and one that sinks. The ingredients are supposed to reflect the season and also have contrasts of color and texture. Having Miso is supposed to be as much as an aesthetic experience as a taste one.

Cream of Onion Soup

This is fast and easy to make. One of my favorite meals for lunch. I made this up one day when I was hungry and only had onions and milk in the fridge.

1 Large White Onion
1/2 cup milk/soy milk
Beef stock/vegetable stock/bouillon
1/2 Tbsp Corn starch or Rice Flour
Pepper, Salt, Basil/pesto
Oil
White wine (optional)
Hard French bread
Cheese (Swiss, Gouda or Romano work well)


1.) Dice the onion
2.) In a frying pan heat about a table spoon of oil.
3.) Add Onions, pepper, salt, and basil or pesto
4.) Fry the Onions on medium heat until they start to caramelize.
5.) Turn the heat to low and add a little stock/bouillon to the onions.
6.) Add White wine and simmer a bit.
7.) Add milk (heating it up in the microwave a bit before hand will help the soup cook faster)
8.) Add corn starch a little at a time and stir soup until it thickens.
9.) Pour soup into an oven safe bowl or ramakin.
10.) Drop Chunks of hard French bread into bowl.
11.) Cover Bread and soup with cheese. slices are fine, so is shredded.
12.) Bake a little bit until cheese is melted and turning brown.
13.) Let cool and then eat.

I know it sounds like a lot, but the whole process takes about 30 min. at the most, and this soup is delicious and pretty impressive looking too.