This is a meal mostly based on the idea of doing as little as work possible. The traditional toppings for it are all things that can be found in most Japanese pantries. Therefore most of my work took place in the international aisle at Berkeley Bowl. I bought some Umeboshi (Pickled plums), toasted rice, nori rice seasoning and some bonito flakes.
My real challenge was the tea. I’m fairly certain that the stuff we had at “Go” was not just Tea. There was something unquestionably savory about it. My first guess was to use a small amount of Dashi (japanese fish stock). I did a quick scan of the internet and of the few recipes I could find, a few did say something about Dashi, but almost universally they said to use soy sauce. I decided I’d try a little of both
Never satisfied not having at least one ingredient from the animal kingdom, and admittedly a little bored that most of the meal was made up of prepared ingredients, I decided to steam up some cherrystone clams for an extra topping.
Back at home with all my crazy ingredients I started by making some rice. I used standard Japanese short grain rice and my trusty little rice cooker. Once it was done I took the lid off to intentionally let it dry out a little. I figured this was the best way to replicate the “left over rice” suggested by most recipes.
While the rice was sitting and becoming leftoverized I turned to the broth. Not owning a tea pot I simply boiled some water in a sauce pan and added a couple tea bags. Unfortunately Kirstin informed me I’d already made my first mistake. Not being much of a tea drinker I kept the water at a high boil after adding the bags. This quickly made a liquid low on tea flavor and high on bitterness. Apparently I burned the tea. We threw it out and started over.
This time I let Kirstin take over the tea part. She manages to get a nice sauce pan full of tea, even if it was a little bitter (apparently tea gets bitter when it’s old and I’d had this stuff for months). To this I added a couple tea spoons of Dashi, still determined that this would make a better soup than soy sauce. One taste revealed apparently that no I didn’t know more than all the traditional Japanese chefs on the internet. The fishy taste of the Dashi overpowered the tea flavor and it still wasn’t really salty enough. A little discouraged I added a tablespoon of soy sauce and decided it was done.
I turned happily to the clams, something I knew something about. I placed all of them (I had bought a full pound, although we really only needed about 8) on the bottom of my big dutch oven, dropped in some garlic and chives, pushed ‘em around a bit. Then I poured in some sake a splash of Dashi and let them simmer on medium. When they where almost I threw in a big handful of sesame seed. The whole thing only took about 3 minutes.
Everything that needed to be was now cooked, all that was left was assembly. I scooped a good cup or more of rice each into two bowls, sprinkled some nori mixture and popped rice on them, arranged a few slices of Umeboshi and four clams on each. I then poured a ladle full of tea mixture over the rice and sprinkled them with Bonito flakes.
We sat down to eat and after a few bites I was mortified to hear Kirstin say something I’m fairly sure she’s never said before in her life. “It’s not salty enough”. I wasn’t sure if I’d completely failed in my cooking or finally won over her tender palate to my salt worshiping ways. A few bites of my own led me more toward the latter unfortunately.
Still, once everything was mixed up, the rice and broth managed to pick up enough salt from the Ume plums (sometimes refered to as “Salty Plum”) and after adding a little more soy sauce to the bowl we ended up with a hearty satisfying meal. I think after a few more tries I’ll be satisfied that I’ll never have to fly 3000 miles to eat this home style
Japanese food again. I can eat it in my own home.
Ochazuke with Cherrystone Clams
Serves 2 (If serving more double everything but the broth that you’ll have to figure out for yourself)
Ingredients
Rice
1 Cup Dry Short Grain Rice (Or 2 Cups of Leftover Prepared Rice)
1 Cup Water
Nori Seasoning
Popped Rice
4 Ume Plums
Tea Broth
4 Cups Water
3 Bags Green Tea (Preferably Genmaicha, Roasted Rice Tea)
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
Clams
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
8 Cherrystone Clams (Or any smallish clams)
2 Cups Dry Sake
2 Cloves Garlic (minced)
1 Tablespoon Chopped Chives
1 Tablespoon Dashi
1 Small Handful Sesame Seeds
To Pass
Bonito Flakes
For Rice
I’m only good at making rice in a rice maker so I won’t go into how to prepare rice just what to do with it once it’s prepared.
1. Divvy up rice between two bowls. Sprinkle each one with Nori Rice Seasoning and Toasted rice.
2. Squeeze out the pits of the Ume plums then slice them into four pieces each. Arrange them on the rice.
For Tea Broth
1. Pour water into medium size sauce pan. Set over high heat until boiling. Remove from heat. Add tea bags with paper tags removed. Let sit for three minutes. Remove tea bags using fork or slotted spoon pressing on them over the pan, if desired, to get the rest of the tea flavor out of them.
2. Bring sauce back up to a low simmer. Add soy sauce and cover. Turn off heat.
For Clams
1. Heat sesame oil in medium dutch oven or good size sauce pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and stir for just a few seconds. Place clams at bottom of pan. Sprinkle with chives. Stir to cover clams and chives with oil.
2. Add sake and dashi. Cover and lower heat to medium.
3. When almost all the clams have opened (probably about 2 or 3 minutes) lift lid and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
4. Wait until all or at least almost all clams are completely open then remove from heat. Discard any clams that refuse to open.
To Serve
Arrange four clams each on the bowls of rice. Pour over a small amount of broth, leaving it on the table so people can add more as desired.
Pass bonito flakes.
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