Welcome to our new series, NOURISH. Throughout the series, we’ll invite friends and collaborators to share recipes, memories, travel tips, and sentimental stories.

For our first feature, our friend Melody helped us create a recipe for one of our favorite everyday snacks: ochazuke. In its simplest form, ochuzake is made by pouring hot tea over rice. Like so many foundational dishes, ochazuke started as a way of making use of leftovers and repurposing the previous day’s rice. The tea was intended to rehydrate the dried out rice and was topped with leftovers like flaked fish and seaweed. While the Japanese version is perhaps the most well known, variations of the recipe exist all across Asia, often employing Asian pantry staples like pickles. 

Few dishes have the power to evoke nostalgia and comfort, able to transport the eater to the sense memories of childhood; ochuzake is one of these few. It’s also the ideal breakfast. It takes minutes to make, it’s filling but doesn’t weigh you down, it’s adaptable and endlessly variable. There’s also no wrong way to make ochazuke. All you need is rice and hot water, and whatever toppings you can forage from the refrigerator. Warm broth over white rice topped with furikake and a crisp cucumber pickle is equal parts humble and sophisticated, and the perfect way to start the day. 

At OWIU we take food very seriously. That passion for nourishment, comfort, and ritual is what inspired us to create the MATTER collection. We wanted even the common, routine moments at home to feel imbibed with care and memory. When our home objects hold special meaning, we handle them with greater intention. As we are more careful, we slow down and are anchored in the present moment. 

Whether the dish is simple or elaborate, food served at home deserves a well-made canvas.  We love that a modest dish like ochazuke can be made elegant, its subtle beauty highlighted in our Forest bowl. It’s true that we eat with our eyes and for us, the vessel matters!

Thank you to Melody for contributing her beautiful work and stay tuned for more simple recipes.

Salmon Ochazuke Recipe 

Ingredients 

• ½  filet of salmon seasoned with salt (or any leftover piece of cooked salmon)
• 1 cup of cooked Japanese short grain rice 
• 1 teaspoon of crispy rice puffs
• 1 teaspoon of shredded nori seaweed 
• 1/4 teaspoon of white sesame seeds
• 1 cup of hot Japanese green tea of your choice (Genmaicha, Sencha, Hojicha all work) 

Steps

1. Cook salmon to your liking and place all rice into a bowl.
2. When the salmon has cooled down, break up the flesh into flakes, remove bones if any. 
3. Place the salmon on top of the rice before placing the other ingredients. 
4. Steep your  green tea leaves into hot water and set aside. Strain/remove tea leaves. 
5. When you‘re ready to eat, pour the hot tea into the bowl to cover the rice halfway and wasabi if you want that extra kick to the dish. 
6. Enjoy!