Unacha
Top: 2 sachets of green tea in the bowl of my Totoro bento (also doubles as the lid for the bento box)
Left: plain rice and umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) in the base of the bento
Right: BBQ unagi (freshwater eel), a sachet of nori strips, and additional condiments -- black sesame seeds, toasted white sesame seeds, wasabi, and pickled radish
For today's bento, we have ochazuke with grilled BBQ eel, also known as unacha. Ochazuke (also known as chazuke) is an ultra-simple Japanese comfort food (and hangover cure) made by pouring hot green tea over rice and toppings. Common toppings used are any type of Japanese pickles (tsukemono), Japanese pickled plum (umeboshi), seaweed (nori), furikake, sesame seeds, mitsuba, wasabi, and sometimes roe, salted salmon, bonito flakes, mackerel, and eel (unagi).
I couldn't find a recipe for unacha, so I kind of made this one up based on some guidelines posted in I was just really very hungry. To eat, I plan on scooping some rice into the bowl portion, adding some of the condiments, and then pouring some fresh-steeped green tea over the top. Here's I'll try to post a picture of the Totoro bento bowl in action if I can remember to break out my camera before snarfing everything up...
