Sake Chazuke

photo by Emily

OK, you know what?  I do get really swamped sometimes, so I'm allowed to be lazy here and there.  I had some left over rice, so I boiled some water and punched out some chazuke.  What's chazuke?  Well, it's delicious and easy so you should try it!  Real chazuke is a rice soup, often containing seasonings such as rice crackers, nori seaweed strips, and maybe some fish or pickles.  The "broth" is actually green tea.  Yeah, I know it sounds kind of funky, but trust me, it's really good.  I've never tried to make my own from scratch, but I probably will at one point or another, but instead I keep some instant chazuke packets hanging around in my stash, which all ready have things like freeze-dried sake (Japanese for salmon - yeah, I got confused the first time, too), the seaweed and crackers, and even instant green tea granules already mixed in.  All you do is put left-over rice in a bowl, pour the seasoning packet over top, and add some boiling water!  And if you have an electric tea kettle that shuts off automatically when the water boils, it's the easiest thing to toss together when you don't have time to bother with a pot and pan.

Where do I get my chazuke packets?  While I believe you can get them at really any Asian convenience store or such, I pick mine up at M2M 55 3rd Avenue in Manhattan.  They generally come 6 packets to a package for $2.99.  50 cents for a quick lunch?  Not bad in my book!