Chagayu (茶粥) is a tea rice porridge that is made in western Japan, but it is in Nara prefecture where it is most famous.
The oldest written account about chagayu comes from the year 752 in Todaiji Temple in Nara, making this dish more than 1,200 years old.
Rice porridges such as congee are very common in Asia. Hence, the idea of making one with tea is probably older than that, even before tea was introduced into Japan.
How to prepare chagayu
The tea used for chagayu is often houjicha, but it can be any Japanese tea.
Recipes vary, but I’ll give you a sample one.
Ingredients: 0.5 cup short grain rice, 3.5 cups of water, and 12 grams of houjicha leaves.
Rinse the rice first, otherwise the chagayu might become too dense.
Add the water, rice, and finally the houjicha in either a teabag, or an infuser.
With the stove at medium heat, wait until the water boils. At this point you can remove the tea leaves.
Foam may accumulate at the surface. You should also remove it.
Lower the heat and continue cooking for about 30 minutes. Make sure that you don’t stir the rice, since it may thicken the chagayu too much.
You can also add some salt if you want.
The difference between chagayu and ochazuke
In both cases the basic ingredients are the same.
However, the rice is cooked while preparing the chagayu, while in the ochazuke the rice was cooked beforehand.
Rice in the chagayu is much softer for the same reason.
Finally, I’m sharing a short video about preparing chagayu.
September 20, 2017
This looks good, and I love houjicha!
September 20, 2017
Hi Regan
It’s an easy recipe, you should give it a try 🙂
January 21, 2020
Hi Ricardo..thanks for sharing..I’ll definitely try it..just wondering about the amout of liquid left after 30 minutes cooking as there were plenty in the video.. have a good day 😊
January 21, 2020
Hi Gihan. If it were normal rice, then cooking it just requires a little bit more water than the volume of rice.
But this rice is cooked so that it is a porridge, so you need much more water and the rice itself will become much softer. Note that the tea leaves also absorb some of the water.
Of course, you can use less water if you want.
April 21, 2020
Thank you for this! My grandma used to make it when I was a kid, and it really took me back.
I actually made it with a bunch of leftover rice that was in the fridge. Submerged the old, cold rice and brought it to a boil with some genmaicha. Didn’t give it the simmer. Next time though, ima do it your way. Thanks again.
April 21, 2020
Hi Lee
If you used leftover rice, then it’s more of an ochazuke than a chagayu.
Hope you enjoyed it.
August 16, 2023
My japanese grandma made chagai and put in purple potato in it as well.
August 16, 2023
Hi Suzette
Thank you for sharing your story. Purple potato is the sweet potato?