Liann's Easy Japanese Obento Recipe: How To Cook Rice & Make Rice Balls (ONIGIRI)

The most common thing you will see in a Obento is Rice ball(Onigiri).

I can't have enough of Onigiri, everyone who's Japanese loves Onigiri.

If you're having hard time making sure your kids are eating enough , this might be the trick. Its super easy and delicious.

Cooking rice can take a while but you can make a lot of rice and freeze it in a serving portion.

This way, it will only take 5 min in the morning.

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Time: 40-100 min to cook rice / 5 min to make rice balls

Portion: 8 servings

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Ingredients

Japanese Rice :3 cups (Any kind of Japanese rice is fine but I personally love "Tamaki Gold")
Water : 3 and 1/3 cups
Salt to taste
Optional ( Seaweed, Plum, tuna with mayo, Furikake)

How to cook rice

Wash rice for 2 to 3 times till the water is clear.
Put 3 and 1/3 cups of water in the rice and let it sit for 30 min. ( You can skip this if you don't have time. This will make rice taste slightly better.)
I. Rice cooker user :Cook the rice in rice cooker. When its done, let it sit in the cooker with the lid on for 10 min.

II. a. Pot user: Put the heat on high and let it boil without the lid on.

b. When it stars to boil put the lid on change the heat to low let it cook for 15 min.

c. Check if the rice is fully cooked, if there is water on the surface let it cook for few more min till the water is absorbed.

d. When the water is fully absorbed turn off the heat and let it sit for 15 min with the lid on.

4. After you let the rice sit for 10-15min, mix the rice and put it in the container while its still hot. To keep the moisture of the rice don't let it sit for too long and after putting the rice in a container put the cover on right away.

5. Let it cool down for few hours and put it in the freezer.

Rice should look like this when its done. No water on surface.

Let the rice sit for 10 min with the cover on and mix it.

This shine means you made it really well.

How to make rice balls

Microwave freezed rice for 1-2min. When you microwave the rice open the cover and put it on the rice to keep the moisture and avoid explosion.
Put the rice on a large plate to cool it down for 1min so you can make a rice ball with you hands.
After its cooled enough, put water on your hands and salt rub your hands together and make a rice ball.
Optional. If the ONIGIRI taste too plain or you want something different, you can use Seaweed, tuna, plum or furikake.

Seaweed: After you make a rice ball cut the seaweed to the size that you want and put it on the rice ball.

Tuna can: Drain the oil in the can as much as you can. Mix with mayonnaise and salt to taste. When you make a rice ball put the tuna in the middle.

Plum(UMEBOSHI): This is a pickled plum, very sour and salty. Take out the seed from the plum and put the plum in the middle of the rice ball when you make it.

Furikake: After you microwave the rice put Furikake on the rice and mix it. Let it cool down and make rice ball.

Where you can get the ingredients: You can get seaweed at most groceries but you might not be able to find Plum and Furikake at a regular grocery store. You can get it at a Japanese grocery store or online.