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Rice bowls with matcha
and roast troutRice bowls with matcha and
roast trout
Ochazuke is Japanese comfort food at its best – freshly
brewed green tea is poured over steamed rice and
served with all manner of toppings, from omelette
to raw fish or tofu. Traditionally, leaf tea is used, but
we’ve gone for matcha, which imparts an amazing
colour and earthy flavour. Hot-smoked trout in place of
the roasted fish would make this an even simpler meal.
Prep time 15 mins, cook 12 mins
(plus rinsing, standing)
Serves 4
450 gm sushi rice, rinsed well, drained
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tsp finely grated ginger
1 tsp caster sugar
90 ml light soy sauce
500 gm piece of ocean trout, pin-boned
3 tsp matcha powder, sieved
Thinly shaved white cabbage and thinly
sliced spring onions, to serve
1 tbsp brown rice vinegar
Shredded toasted nori and roasted sesame
seeds, to serve
1 Preheat oven to 200C. Combine rice and
840ml water in a saucepan with ½ tsp salt, bring
to a simmer, cover with a tight-fitting lid, reduce
the heat to low and cook without uncovering for
12 minutes. Remove from the heat and stand
without uncovering for 5 minutes to steam.
2 Meanwhile, heat oil in a small saucepan over
medium heat, add garlic and ginger, and fry until
fragrant (30 seconds to 1 minutes). Add sugar
and stir to dissolve, then add soy sauce and bring
to a simmer. Line a small roasting pan that holds
fish snugly with baking paper, add trout pour soy
sauce mixture over and roast until cooked to your
liking (6-7 minutes for medium-rare).
3 Stir matcha powder with 2 tbsp warm water in
a bowl to form a smooth paste, add 1 litre boiling
water and whisk to combine.
4 Divide rice among serving bowls and pour in
matcha broth to taste. Top with cabbage then
flaked trout, and scatter with spring onion. Mix
rice vinegar into trout pan juices, drizzle mixture
over bowls, scatter with nori and roasted sesame
seeds, and serve.Matcha crackle cookies
These chewy biscuits are a most intense shade of
green, and full of earthy matcha flavour. They’re the
ideal texture for ice-cream sandwiches – vanilla
ice-cream would be perfect, or go for a double-matcha
dose and make the ice-cream on page 88.
Prep time 15 mins, cook 12 mins (plus cooling)
Makes about 18
140 gm softened butter
110 gm (^1 / 2 cup firmly packed) light brown sugar
110 gm (^1 / 2 cup) caster sugar
60 gm honey
1 egg
280 gm plain flour
40 gm matcha powder
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
White sugar, for rolling
160 gm (1 cup) icing sugar, plus extra to serve
150 gm (^1 / 2 cup) cornflour
1 Preheat oven to 180C and line trays with baking
paper. Beat butter, sugars and honey in an electric
mixer until pale and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Scrape
down sides of bowl, beat in egg, then sieve in flour,
matcha powder, ground ginger, bicarbonate of
soda and a pinch of salt, and mix to form a dough.
2 Place white sugar in a bowl, and sieve icing
sugar and cornflour into a separate bowl. Roll
tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, roll each in
white sugar, then heavily in icing sugar mixture to
coat well and place on baking trays, leaving about
8cm between each for cookies to spread. Press to
flatten slightly, then bake, swapping and turning
trays partway through cooking, until just coloured
on the edges (10-12 minutes). Cool on trays and
serve dusted with icing sugar. Matcha cookies will
keep in an airtight container for up to a week.
Matcha doughnuts
Instead of a yeasted dough, these doughnuts are
leavened with baking powder, nixing the need for
lengthy proving times. We couldn’t choose between
dusting them in sweet matcha powder or icing them
with a matcha glaze, so we did both.
Prep time 15 mins, cook 15 mins
Makes 12 (pictured p83)
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
290 gm plain flour, plus extra for dusting
40 gm caster sugar
2 tsp matcha powder
1¾ tsp baking powder
135 ml well-shaken buttermilk
30 gm melted butter
1 egg
Sweet matcha powder
120 gm (1 cup) pure icing sugar
1 tbsp matcha powder
1 tbsp cornflour
Matcha glaze
300 gm (2½ cups) icing sugar
2 tsp matcha powder
2 tbsp milk>