Onigiri Bento in pink

If you are not Japanese but love Anime or Manga you probably were introduced to bento's and onigiri's in this way. This is how i was introduced to them and always had wanted to make my own. They are really easy and now I make them all the time.

I've showed many traditional square, rectangle and even circle shaped bento's before. This time i want to show my cute onigiri bento. These are shaped much different from my other ones. I got this cute pink one at a store in Seattle, Washington called Daiso. You can buy their stuff online at
Daiso Online
They have all sorts of cute Japanese things for decent price and ship to all over the us. Granted much cheaper if you find an actual store. I think I got this bento for a buck, where online they are about $18.

The little sauce bottle next to it is full of soy sauce. Its convenient non messy way to bring it. I squirt a little soy sauce on my rice balls as I'm eating them for more flavor. The top of the bento is a big domed shape.
This way your rice balls wont get smushed.

You can see i've got two medium sized triangle onigiris sitting on the platform the lid goes over. I also have them resting on some extra seaweed. I got this flavored sea weed squares at Uwajimaya

You could find these at most asian supermarkets. I'm not sure what flavor these ones are but they are crisp with a nice salty seasoning. I like to put extra on my rice ball for a crunchy texture on the outside.
It's also popular to season the outside of the rice balls with Furikake flakes like These.

Then the little part the Onigiri's rest on comes off and there is a little compartment for some more snacks or food to go with them. I put some small strawberries in for a sweet addition to my salty lunch.

Onigiri are a great lunch or snack. They are healthy, tasty and best of all very easy to transport. They hold shape well and can be eaten quickly with no mess, no need to be heated. You can also put fillings inside. Popular fillings are tuna and red bean paste. I have mine made plane with no filling.
It's best to use shortgrain rice because it's softer and holds together better then long or medium grain ones. If you're desperate you can use long grain it will taste good your rice balls just might fall apart since its not as sticky.
The best recipe for sushi rice for making rice balls i got here. I do it exactly like she directs except i use rice vinegar instead of white vinegar cause i adore the flavor of it. I make a whole bunch at a time and then keep them in a glass flat container with lid in my fridge. Then just grab them as i get hungry or am making lunches.

Egg Rolls

So a few weeks ago I decided to do some experimenting and made an "Asian" feast for me and my honey.

It started with some egg rolls filled with carrots, cabbage, chicken, mushrooms, and artichoke.
I found that even though they are daunting egg rolls are super easy to make and you can put any range of fillings in them. You can find the wrappers right around the fresh mushrooms or bags of salad at the grocery store.
I then used some sausage filling and leftover banana squash I had mashed up with lemon pepper and made croquettes. I was really nervous about these ones but the hubby loved them, and had wished I'd made more of them.

Then for the finale was some home made honey mustard sauce to dip into and onigiri's.
Now I've tried to make onigiri several times in the past and they always turned out tasteless and nothing compared to the one's I'd tried from the japanese market.
This time I finally found a great sushi rice recipe. Even though the hubby didn't care for them my sister and I loved them and ended up finishing off all the onigiri and rice the very next day.
I found my problem was I kept trying to use the onigiri sprinkle seasoning from the stores, and they just don't taste good to me. So instead went with a classic sushi rice flavor. It was just right.
You can find the sushi rice recipe Here
Definitely worth making again.

Onigiri Virgin No Longer

Today I was feeling pretty depressed after having a very bad weekend. Not knowing what to cook I put some rice in my rice cooker, and just left it there while I rested and recouped. Once it was done I decided it was the perfect time to put my new Onigiri mold and Furikake seasoning to the test.

So here before you my very first attempt at making Onigiri's. I think they turned out very cute. For the size of my rice maker I was able to make ten onigiris plus one small rice ball. The filling is tuna mixed with shredded cheese, mayo, black pepper, and some ketchup and mustard to taste. On half the batch I used the Furikake seasoning which I thought smelled kind of gross, and the second I mixed in a smidge of garlic salt, dill, parsley, and black pepper with the rice.
Over all I consider this a success. They turned out so cute and yummy. The filling is particularly delicious (goes great on tuna melt sandwiches too) I'm going to try freezing half the batch and then have a few for lunch tomorrow and dinner tonight.