Looking for the rest of the Superabundant newsletter? Subscribe now to get original recipes, PNW food news, and ideas for the kitchen and garden!

Wasabi is Ghibli horseradish, as chubby and green as a caterpillar.

Freshly grated wasabi — the real thing — is transcendent, with iridescent sweetness and a quiet, mossy-floral aroma that can only come from a plant that spent its entire life in a babbling forest stream. The flavors develop after the cell walls are ruptured, and this is accomplished by dragging the nubby rhizome across a special type of grater called oroshigane. (Edo-period craftsmen made them with the rough, suedelike belly skin of angel sharks but nowadays, metal or ceramic versions are more common.)

The green paste we usually encounter doesn’t even come close to the real thing — it’s just processed horseradish and green food coloring. The little cans of powdered wasabi are like mac-and-cheese powder compared to a ripe, bloomy-rinded Camembert. No wonder the instinct is to drown it in soy sauce!

Sure, other crucifers like mustard and radish have a sulfureous pungency — but in wasabi, that pungency comes with an exclamation point. It’s usually used to punctuate sushi, where it facilitates the contrast between fresh, raw seafood and rice. Brought to you by allyl isothiocyanate, wasabi’s sharp pungency bypasses your tongue and cuts straight through your sinuses, so pronounced that a fine wasabi mist is used to make fire alarms for the deaf.

Our latest Superabundant video explores how Oregon became the best place outside Japan to grow wasabi, but don’t forget that the Northwest isn’t too shabby at growing barley, either! This week’s recipe highlights some of wasabi’s (and barley’s) lesser-known talents, like fragrancing a bowl of rice with roasted steelhead and a broth of roasted rice tea. Here, both the rhizome and the mild, grassy leaves bring their aroma to this simple, homestyle Japanese dish, while bringing just enough karami to cut through the richness of the steelhead. Serves 4.

Note: Look for fresh wasabi in farmers markets or Japanese grocery stores like Uwajimaya, or products labeled “hon wasabi” from Shizuoka, Japan. If you can’t find fresh wasabi leaves, use watercress, garden cress or a peppery rocket/arugula instead.

Ingredients

1 pound steelhead or salmon, cut into 4 fillets

¼ cup rice bran oil (or other mild, neutral oil), divided

Sea salt

1 tablespoon freshly grated wasabi (plus more for serving, as desired)

1 cup fresh wasabi leaves

2 cups dashi stock (homemade or instant)

1 tablespoon roasted barley (mugicha)

2 teaspoons (or 2 teabags) hojicha or other toasted green tea

4 cups steamed rice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Drizzle a little oil on the foil, generously season the steelhead fillets on both sides with sea salt, then lay them on the foil, skin side down. Drizzle a little more oil on top and roast until the flesh is flaky but still moist, about 15 minutes.
2. While the steelhead is cooking, puree the grated wasabi, wasabi leaves and remaining rice bran oil in a blender, then strain the green oil through a sieve and set aside.
3. Bring the dashi plus 1 cup of water to a boil, then remove from the heat and add the barley and tea (use a tea ball or strainer). Steep for 5 minutes, then remove the barley and tea. Return the broth to a low simmer.
4. To serve, divide the rice among four bowls, place the roasted steelhead on top, then ladle the hot broth over the top. Drizzle spoonfuls of the wasabi oil over the steelhead and rice, and add more grated wasabi as desired.

Don’t forget to subscribe!

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/09/superabundant-recipe-wasabi-steelhead-ochazuke/