Furikake

About 16 years ago when I was still back in the UK, I had some of my Japanese exchange student friends around my gaff. I didn't have any food to feed them at the time and all that was available was plain rice ^^;

Kenichi says to me "Jyubun dayo!" [じゅうぶんだよ] meaning "thats more than enough!" He then whips out some sachets of power looking substance which he then started to sprinkle over the rice.
I was puzzled as to how powder could turn white rice into a meal for three.

That was my first encounter with Furikake [ふりかけ] pronounced "furi-karkeh." Furikake is basically dried food like eggs, fish, squid, seaweed etc. This powdery mix of dried food on rice alone is enough to fill you up without any extra dishes.

Ochazuke [お茶漬け] is a type of furikake and this is what it looks like sprinkled on some rice. Ochazuke contains light soup stock so you are required to pour a bit of water or Japanese/Chinese tea on top.

Ochazuke complete with oo-long tea, seaweed and pickles.
I actually uploaded these photos during the summer but forgot to release them. Ochazuke tastes fantastic on a hot summers day.

All supermarkets have furikake - lots of it.

Whenever I made a trip to Japan I would buy tons to bring back to the UK.