Nara Chameshi (Rice cooked in Japanese Tea) | 奈良茶飯

A shojinriyouri (food and meals eaten by the monks) called ‘Chameshi’.

It was introduced in one a television program – ‘Travel Nara’ which translated to me as very authentically Japanese, our foundation of Japanese food – soy beans and Japanese Tea.

Looking up the historical fact of ‘Chameshi’ –

The origin of Nara Chameshi comes from the Todaiji (temple) and Koufukuji, where after having taken their first brewed tea, the second tea was used to cook the rice with a small amount of salt; in which the steam rice was soaked in the first brewed tea as a sort of ‘soup risotto’ (Ochazuke).

Chameshi, ‘cha’ means tea and ‘meshi’ means rice.

奈良の旅番組を見ていたら、、『奈良茶飯』という精進料理をうるおぼえで作ってみました。大豆と日本茶で土鍋で焚いているご飯はなんとも美味しそうに見てて、、早速うるおぼえ乍ら再製してみました。

（ネットで調べて情報は下記）

「奈良茶飯（ならちゃめし）の起源は、東大寺と興福寺の寺領から納められる上茶を煎じて初煎（初めに入れた茶）と再煎（二番茶）に分け、再煎のお茶に塩少量を加えて飯（めし）に炊き、蒸らした後に初煎の濃い方に浸けて食べるのが本来の茶飯であったといわれている。何となく茶飯のお茶漬けを想像する。
この中に、焙（い）った大豆または黒豆、カチグリなどを加えて豆茶飯、栗茶飯などといったようである。前述したように、東大寺二月堂修二会（お水取り）の練行衆の食事に茶粥と共に茶飯が出ているので、僧坊では古くから食べられていたことがわかる。一般には、江戸時代の中期に浅草や各地で茶飯屋ができて、「奈良茶」の目印を出して客を呼んだことが記録に残っている。
（田中敏子著『奈良の味』改訂版より引用）

making it even better…boiling Edamame

Original Recipe: (Japanese cup = 180cc) Rice Cooker Version

3 cups of rice
1/2 cup of dried soy beans
4.5 cup of Japanese tea (Obancha /Brown Tea or Osencha/Green Tea)
2/3 cup of Water
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Soy Sauce

Wash the rice and drain the rice to dry for about 30 minutes.
Boil 4.5 cups of water and make a strong dark Japanese Brown Tea (JBT).
In a frying pan, roast the soy beans in low heat for approximately 15 minutes until the outer husk becomes crispy and gradually turning brown.
Using a rice cooker, cook the rice with 120% of JBT (20% more liquid than the rice, adding water if required) with salt and soy sauce.

My Version Recipe: (Japanese cup = 180cc) Hot Pot Version

2 cups of rice (360cc)
1/2 cup of dried soy beans
220cc of Japanese tea (Osencha/Green Tea)
2/3 Teaspoon Salt
1 + 1/2 Teaspoons Soy Sauce

Wash the rice and leave it in water for about 5 minutes before washing the rice. Drain the rice to dry for about 30 minutes.
Make Japanese Green Tea (strong, even boiling the tea) at least 440cc.
In a frying pan, roast the soybeans in low heat for approximately 15 minutes until the outer husk becomes crispy and gradually turning brown.
Using a hot pot, place all ingredients in the pot, cooking 13-15 minutes (after the steam starts piping out) in medium-low heat.
Make sure that the rice is left 20 minutes to rest after turning off the heat.

オリジナルレシピ