Greenery day (Matcha Rice )

Greenery day in Japan is part of the Golden Week holidays also known as Arbor Day.

This day celebrates and appreciates nature.  Festivities include planting trees and seeds and as a lot of people are off work they go to visit parks and enjoy the outdoors with family and friends.

As this time is also the time for the first picking of green tea leaves I decided to make a green tea rice meal to celebrate Greenery Day.

Cooking up some rice in the rice cooker I added 1/2 a teaspoon of  sifted matcha to a cup,
Then added hot but not boiling water (about 1/4 cup),
I whisked the matcha well and then when the rice was cooked I poured in the matcha water and mixed it in,
I then left this on warm for a few min’s just to soak through or you can put your rice cooker back on cook until it clicks back over ( takes a few mins )

On top of the rice I scattered it with steamed bamboo shoots, another spring favourite in Japan is edamame and sliced lotus root, watercress and stem broccoli.

The taste of the matcha really brings out a lovely flavour in the rice .

Well worth trying .