Hi! It’s me Keroleen. I would like to share this with you, our dear readers. ^_^ Besides donuts, Keroppi  likes rice balls. *giggle*

The rice ball is Japanese traditional food! It is more popular than the sandwich in Japan. Known as ”ONIGIRI” or “OMUSUBI”, it is eaten at lunch, picnic, party and at meetings. Rice balls can also be bought at Japanese convenience stores.

Japanese families cook plain white rice every day. And usually the ingredients for making rice balls are everyday items from the kitchen pantry or refrigerator.

For the Japanese, making rice balls is such an everyday experience that it’s hard to find a recipe in a Japanese cookbook. However, for people in other countries, the rice ball might be something rare and fun to eat. So I thought I’d write a recipe for rice balls using ingredients which can be found even outside of Japan. You can use any kind of leftover food in your refrigerator for the filling of the rice ball, but I have two suggestions:

1. The filling of the rice ball should not be hard, but fairly soft. The rice and the filling should make a good balance in your mouth.

2. The taste of the filling should be somewhat strong because the rice has a light taste. Japanese like salty fillings such as pickled plum (umeboshi). But watch out! If you eat a Japanese pickled plum, your mouth might bend from the saltiness!

Here are some suggestions for the fillings:

Tuna and Mayonnaise

Mixed canned tuna, mayonnaise and a bit of soy sauce.

Broiled beef or pork

Mix some chopped meat, soy sauce, sake and a little bit of grated  ginger. Then broil in a pan. Using meat with a curry taste or spicy taste is also recommended.

Corned beef

Mix corned beef and a little bit of soy sauce.

Now for the rice balls. This will be the steps in forming the triangular omusubi because that shape is more suitable for any filling. ^_^

Hold rice in left palm (or right, if left-handed).

Fillings can be set in the center of the rice and covered. Using other palm with slightly bend fingers and hold together on top to pack rice.

The upper palm forms a triangle while the lower hand holds the rice in between the thumb and fingers widthwise.

Repeat packing three times to form a triangular omusubi.

Ok, now that I have taught you basics, try it out with a filling of your choice. I’ll now go back to the kitchen and prepare Keroppi’s favorite rice balls. XD

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Kero Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.