Our New Favorite Side Dish: Green Tea Rice
Have you ever tried cooking with green tea?
Years ago, I made a green tea cake that was pretty good, but other than that, I pretty much only drink my green tea. However, this recipe for green tea rice (especially after my recent rice-cooking revelation!), is certainly encouraging me to think outside of the green-tea box …
We got this Green Tea Rice recipe from Bee Yinn Low, from Rasa Malaysia. She uses Oi Ocha’s Shincha, which is the year’s first harvest of green tea that is said to have even more health benefits than regular green tea. With a unique, smooth umami flavor, this type of tea contains four times the amount of L-Theanine, higher concentrations of catechin antioxidants and vitamin C, and it’s also lower in caffeine than regular green tea. Oh, and peeps like Chef Nobu Matsuhisa love it. Yeah, that says something.
- 1 cup cooked steamed rice, such as jasmine or short-grain sushi
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 cup Oi Ocha Shincha (green tea)
- Some thinly sliced scallions
- ½ teaspoon toasted white and black sesame seeds
- In a small sauce pan, bring the Shincha (green tea) to simmer, add the salt and turn off the heat.
- Get a large shallow bowl, put in the steamed rice, and add the scallions and sesame seeds on top of the rice. Pour the green tea over the rice and serve immediately.
Have you ever cooked with green tea? —Jenn