Onigiri (Rice Balls)

For my 40th birthday my girlfriend, Sandra, took me out for sushi at Tei Tei....which I looooove. We ordered a variety...all familiar except one item....Rice Ball....it was a ball of rice which had been toasted on the grill. Yum! Since that night I have thought about the rice ball often. When we were in Hawaii November 2008 at every ABC/7-11 convenience stores they had these rice balls in different shapes layered with Spam and wrapped in nori seaweed...I did not attempt one because they were in a heated lamp source...I should have been so brave but all I could think of was 'if they do not move them fast enough the lamp source is not hot enough to fight bacteria...just eat one!' Well I didn't...I should have. Recently I have been thinking about them more and more due to looking into Bento lunches for my daughter I see rice balls everywhere. With that said I made them yesterday. Sushi rice, nori wraps & toasted sesame seeds...I ate 2 with tamari & wasabi...YUM! They were so filling. I have a rice cooker, that makes the perfect sushi rice, made my process so easy.



Onigiri


2 cups of sushi rice
Toasted sesame seeds
Nori sheets cut in strips

Steam/cook rice. Add vinegar mix.

Vinegar Mix

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp sake
1/2 tbsp salt

Mix till sugar and salt have dissolved. Warming helps dissolve (heat or microwave).
Add mix to cooked sushi rice.

I have discovered these two blogs that have helped tremendously.
justhungry.com and justbento.com the author of these 2 blogs is in the process of publishing a bento book, how exciting. Look forward to it.

Page that helped me with the rice balls.