Ochazuke Recipe (Green Tea Soup)
Japanese Ochazuke green tea soup is made with our nourishing immune boosting Turmeric Ginger Organic Green Tea, miso broth, rice and fun toppings like nori, vegetables and shredded chicken.
Did you know that you can made a delicious soup broth using tea? Green tea adds a delicious vegetal aroma and taste to soup broth. Our Turmeric Green Tea Rice Soup is a super easy weekday meal that can be on your table in less than 30 minutes.
In Japan, they make Ochazuke (also known as chazuke) by pouring green tea broth over a bowl of cooked rice and delicious toppings. “Ocha” means green tea in Japanese. “Zuke” means to soak something – and in this case, it is rice. Ochazuke is the perfect bowl of warming comfort food. We decided to kick it up one more notch with our signature organic tea blends – Turmeric Ginger Organic Green Tea, to add a boost of anti-inflammatory power.
Why You Are Going to Love Ochazuke Recipe (Green Tea Soup)
Less than 30-minutes to makePacked with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories
Great way to use your leftover rice
Pairs easily with grilled fish, chicken, tofu or any proteins you have on hand.
Add fun toppings like sesame seeds, nori (dried seaweed) and thinly sliced vegetables
Can be made gluten-free and vegan
Great presentation
Eating warming nourishing easy to digest foods helps your body work stronger and not harder.
4 Small Servings or 2 Large
Prep Time: 15 MinutesCook Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups leftover cooked white rice (or cook 1 cup rice per instructions). We used short-grain sushi rice. However, Jasmine rice and even brown rice both work well in this recipe.
- 4 cups water
- 2 tablespoons miso paste
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dashi (optional)
- 1 tablespoon mirin - Japanese sweet wine (optional)
- 4 sachets of Turmeric Ginger Organic Green Tea or 4 heaping teaspoons of our loose-leaf tea.
- Salt and white pepper to taste
Topping Suggestions
- Sesame seeds
- Green onions chopped
- Roasted chicken slices, grilled salmon, tofu, etc.
- Nori (dried seaweed) sliced thinly
- Vegetables like thinly grated carrots, zucchini, spinach, etc.
Instructions
Reheat leftover rice or cook 1 cup of rice per instructions.
In a medium pan, add water, miso paste, soy sauce, dashi and mirin to pan and bring to a boil. Dashi and mirin are option items but add a delightful flavor to the broth. Remove from heat.
Add 4 sachets of Turmeric Ginger Organic Green Tea or 4 heaping teaspoons of loose-leaf tea and steep for about 2 minutes. Remove sachets. If using loose-leaf tea, strain to remove leaves. Set Aside.
Add ½ cup hot rice to each bowl or if really hungry add 1 cup of rice to each bowl. Add on your toppings such as sesame seeds, green onions, Roasted chicken slices, grilled salmon or tofu, nori and thinly sliced or grated vegetables. This method creates a very nice-looking dish – suitable anywhere in the mountains of Hokkaido or Nagano.
Pour green tea soup broth over the rice and enjoy!
As an alternative to serving the tea broth over the rice, you can put all the ingredients (except the sesame seeds or nori leaves) in the soup pot and heat together, mix and serve. Afterwards, top with the dry garnishes e.g., sesame seeds and nori leaves, if desired.
Recipe Notes
- If you want to make this ochazuke recipe gluten free, use tamari sauce instead of soy sauce. In addition, there are a few gluten-free soybean paste alternatives on the market such as Clearspring Gluten Free Organic Sweet Miso Paste White.
- We used Awase Miso Soybean Paste for the dish shown here. Awase Miso Soybean Paste is a mixture of white and red soybeans, but it is not gluten-free.
- You can make green tea soup with pre-cooked noodles instead of rice, if you prefer.
- Typically, ochazuke is topped with grilled fish (salmon), given the abundance of seafood in the Island nation of Japan. In this example, we used what was on hand and for us that was poached chicken. This is a great way to use up leftover chicken, fish, tofu and even cooked vegetables.
- Have fun with the toppings. Chopped scallions, fresh herbs and vegetables are always delicious. Use what you have on hand. In Japan, they may also serve green tea soup with sesame seeds or furikake seasoning.
- Furikake seasoning is a delicious Japanese dried condiment usually sprinkled on rice.
- Our other green teas work well in this recipe: Sencha Organic Green Tea, Gyokuro Organic Green Tea or Bancha Organic Green Tea all make green tea soup broth.
Health Benefits of Turmeric Ginger Organic Green Tea
Turmeric is a bright yellow spice and is known as a superfood. The compound in turmeric that provides these health benefits is known as curcumin. In a review done by Hewlings and Kalman, Curcumin: A Review of Its’ Effects on Human Health, they found that Curcumin has multiple health benefits. These health benefits act primarily through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms.
They also noted that these health benefits are amplified when with combined with pepper. Our Turmeric Ginger Organic Green Tea has pink peppercorns. Curcumin can help with many inflammatory conditions e.g. metabolic syndromes or arthritis. It may also reduce conditions that lead to some cancers and/or lower hyperlipidemia that can lead to heart disease.
If you like turmeric, you may also like our Immune Boosting Orange Ginger Latte Recipe.
Green tea has catechins. Catechins are natural antioxidants that can help regulate inflammation and prevent diseases. One catechins called epigallocatechin-3-gallate or EGCG is a potent antioxidant that protects against cellular damage.
So how does this help us? When ones’ level of free radicals get too high inflammation can occur. EGCG goes to work by blocking this behavior. According to Suzuki et al, in the article “Heath Promoting Effects of Green Tea”, the action mechanisms of green tea, and the EGCG it contains, may help prevent certain chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Drinking warm and easy digest foods like soups makes it easier for our body to absorb the nutrients so we can stay healthy.
Hungry for more? Check out our other delicious recipes.
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