Salmon Ochazuke

Salmon Ochazuke (rice steeped in tea and dashi) is my oldest daughter’s favorite style of ochazuke—it has several of the things she loves: Salmon, ikura (salted salmon roe), seaweed, and rice. It’s one of my favorites too as it’s a breeze to put together and so comforting on crisp fall nights.

Some make ochazuke only with tea, but I find mixing in dashi stock makes it even more scrumptious. Toasting the nori (seaweed) over the stove for a few minutes helps bring out the flavor. I shredded some of my abundant shiso from the garden.

You can either salt and cook the salmon yourself, or you can use smoked salmon. For smoked salmon, you can either cook it on the stove or allow it to get cooked by the hot rice and water. Since smoked salmon is readily available and keeps so that I can use it for other things, I tend to use that in place of fresh.

Ingredients

• 1 bowl of cooked white sushi rice
• 3 tablespoons of minced cold smoked salmon, heated or unheated
• 1 tablespoon ikura (salted salmon roe)
• 1 tablespoon ripped toasted nori
• Shiso, julienned, for garnish
• 1/2 dashi broth (kombu or katsuoboshi) and 1/2 hot tea mixture

1. Scoop your cooked white rice into a bowl.
2. Top with nori, smoked salmon, ikura, and shiso.
3. Pour the dashi tea mixture in and serve hot.