# Chagayu ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Chagayu

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
All over the prefecture

## Main Ingredients Used
Rice, hojicha (green tea)

## History, Origin, and Related Events
Tea cultivation in Japan is said to have begun in the early 9th century when Kobo Daishi (Kukai) brought back tea seeds from Tang China and sowed them at Butsuryuji Temple in Uda City.The "Omizutori" ceremony held at Todaiji Temple every March has a history of more than 1,200 years, and "gobo" and "gotcha" appear in the menu of the procession. Gecha" is rice boiled in hojicha and the liquid removed (like the origin of chahan), and "gobo" is tea porridge with a lot of liquid.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
Tea porridge in Nara, known as "okai-san," is made by cooking cold rice in boiled hojicha (roasted green tea), and is characterized by its lightness. It is said that "mornings in Yamato start with tea porridge," so tea porridge is a typical daily meal in Nara.

## How to Eat
Nowadays, few households cook "chagoo" every morning, but in Yamato, many households cook rice at night, and it is thought that "chagoo" spread widely among households in order to eat cold rice warmly. To make it more filling, various ingredients such as sweet potatoes, pumpkin, taro, chestnuts, and kakimochi were added to the porridge.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
Some hotels in Nara Prefecture serve "tea porridge" as a breakfast menu. Some hotels in Nara Prefecture serve "chagrui" as a breakfast menu, and restaurants in Nara Prefecture also serve it.In Yamazoe Village, the bamboo tea bags used for boiling tea leaves have been handed down from generation to generation.

## Ingredients
- rice: 1 cup
- Houjicha (roasted green tea): 30g
- Water: 5 cups
- salt: 1 tsp.

## Recipe
1. 1. Cook rice with normal amount of water (not including the quantity of water).
2. 2. Boil Houjicha (roasted green tea).
3. 3. Add rice and salt to 2 and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.When the desired consistency is reached, it is ready to serve.
4. 4. Add steamed sweet potatoes or baked kakimochi (rice cakes), etc., as desired.

## Provider Information
provider : Recipe provided by : Nara Prefecture

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