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A new way to enjoy a cuppa: We try making curry with tea-brewed rice【SoraKitchen】

Krista Rogers Dec 7, 2022
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One simple tweak to your rice preparation results in a more flavorful dish of Japanese-style curry.

There are countless ways to enjoy tea besides as a traditional beverage. From tea-infused donuts to chocolate matcha ice cream bars, the world’s second-most consumed beverage after water is incredibly versatile in the number of ways that it can be consumed.

Our Japanese-language correspondent Yui Imai recently stumbled upon a tweet from British teamaker Twinings‘ official Japanese account sharing one such novel idea to enjoy a batch of black tea-infused rice together with curry. Though the tweet itself is already a couple of years old, she couldn’t resist trying it out newly for herself, especially as the days grow colder and a hearty plate of steaming curry sounds like the perfect hunger-quenching dish.

▼ Twinings’ original tweet

＼暑い夏に食べたい！#紅茶ライス withカレー🍛／

いつものカレーに一工夫💡
お米を炊く時に使う水を紅茶に変えてみよう🎶

風味豊か＆後味さっぱりの紅茶ライスは、味の濃いカレーと相性抜群♡他にも麻婆豆腐やロコモコ丼にも合いますよ！

作ってみたい人⇒リツイート🔁#Twinings #トワイニング pic.twitter.com/xZDydmlXg0

— トワイニング (@TWININGS_jp) August 6, 2019

Perhaps the best thing about this idea is that it doesn’t require any special equipment to make. As long as you have some teabags, you’re good to go.

Accordingly, Yui measured two cups of white rice into her rice maker bowl and readied two black tea bags for steeping.

She brewed the tea for a bit longer than she normally would to produce a stronger flavor.

Once the tea cooled, she poured it over the newly washed rice. It was somewhat strange for her to see the rice in, well, tea-colored liquid, but that was a given. She then closed the lid and turned the rice cooker on. Now all she had to do was wait for it to cook as usual.

When it was ready, she opened the lid and was greeted by the fragrant aroma of black tea wafting up to her nose.

The rice itself looked like it could have been cooked using some other kind of broth such as bonito-based dashi, but tea rice it was. She tried a bite on its own but interestingly wasn’t overpowered by the tea flavor. However, it did somehow taste more refreshing than regular white rice cooked with water.

Now it was time to test the rice in combination with something else. She scooped a neat ball of rice onto a plate of freshly prepared Japanese-style curry.

Now was the moment of truth. While the tea-flavored rice on its own hadn’t been all that strong, a single bite revealed that the rice together with the curry deepened the overall richness and umami of the dish. In fact, the two seemed to complement each other perfectly.

Before she knew it, Yui had finished her plate in record time. It was just that good.

The Twinings tweet also recommends trying the tea-flavored rice in combination with Chinese mapo tofu or Hawaiian loco moco. Perhaps Yui will have to try one of those next–if she doesn’t get distracted by something else like Green Tea Cup Noodle first.

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[ Read in Japanese ]