Description[]
Japanese rice balls.
- Contributed by Catsrecipes Y-Group
- Serves 12
Ingredients[]
- 4 cups Japanese short-grain rice
- 1 envelope bonito shavings
- 5 seasoned plums (umeboshi)
- 4 oz salmon
- 2 sheets nori (seaweed wrappers)
- 2 tsp salt
Directions[]
- Rinse salmon and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Sprinkle with salt.
- Place on a rack over a cookie sheet or small dish and bake in 400°F oven for an hour to dry it out.
- Cook rice according to package directions (i.e. without adding fat) so that it's sticky.
- Prepare three bowls.
- When salmon is done, ground the fillet up into small pieces with a fork or mortar and pestle and place in the first bowl.
- Mash seasoned plums with a fork and place in second bowl.
- Empty contents of one small bonito shaving envelope into the third bowl.
- Divide rice into three portions, and add one portion to each bowl.
- Mix lightly to combine with seasoning ingredient.
- Wet hands slightly.
- Dip one finger tip into leftover salt and smear the salt so that sticks on both hands.
- Take ¼ of rice mixture from first bowl.
- Form into a ball.
- Make it compact, but not so much that the grains of rice become mush.
- Form into a triangle, square, or cylinder.
- Repeat for the remaining rice.
- Each seasoning bowl should yield four rice balls, for a total of twelve.
- Place each one on a piece of parchment paper to keep them from sticking.
- Cut each sheet of nori into three strips lengthwise.
- Then cut each strip in half.
- Wrap one small strip of nori around the bottom of each rice ball to form an envelope to hold it with.
- Serve immediately.
- If you won't be serving immediately, wait to wrap the rice in the nori, as it will absorb water from the rice and lose its crunch.
- Instead, wrap tightly and refrigerate.
- Let the rice balls come to room temperature before serving.