Roasted Rice Balls 焼きおにぎり

I can hardly believe that the frozen version of these are sold in some Trader Joe's stores today. When you're tired of making fried rice with your leftover rice, this is a great snack that you can make. All that you need is:

• Leftover rice (at least 1 serving)
• 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp soy sauce 
• 1 umeboshi per rice ball (Japanese pickled plum or other condiment like takuan which is pickled daikon, Japanese salted cod roe, or you can even do a tuna salad inside. It tastes great!)

Here's a wee tip. If you want to make these roasted rice balls from fresh-made rice, by all means! There is a slight advantage to using leftover rice though, and that is that it's usually not as sticky as freshly steamed rice. When starting with leftover rice, just give the rice a gentle spin in the microwave, about 30 seconds for a single serving or a minute for a double serving. Here, I begin with roughly a double serving of rice. 

I take a piece of plastic wrap, and lay it on the counter. The plastic wrap just helps with the rice not getting stuck to all your fingers. I remember when I was a kid, my mom used to make rice balls with her bare hands, picking up rice out of the piping hot steamer. Suddenly one day, one of her Japanese friends gave her this tip that you could use plastic wrap so that the burning hot rice won't stick to your fingers when you make the rice balls. Ever since, it's been her tried and true method. Of course, here, I don't have hot rice, it's just warm enough that it's a little sticky for proper molding of the rice balls. 

I lay out the rice on the plastic wrap, in a mildly circular shape, a bit flat. In the center, I add my PITTED pickled plum, the umeboshi (梅干). Once safely in the center, I pick up the wrap and squish the rice together into a ball, making sure that the plum stays toward the center as I close up the rice around it. 

Then I take the ball and turn it into a triangular shape. Time to dab a little soy sauce on the outside of the rice ball. I brush both sides (or all sides, it's a matter of preference) of the rice ball with soy sauce on a brush. I'm careful not to overdo it, because I don't want overly salty rice balls. It's just enough that I know I'll get a good shoyu taste on the rice. 

At this point, I can either throw it on the grill or just pop it in my countertop oven. The grill being too much of a fuss when I'm not using it for anything else, I opt for the latter. (If deciding to grill, I make sure the grills on the barbecue are greased first so that the rice doesn't stick.) I pop the rice balls into the oven at 425 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Sometimes, if I want a crisper shell, I'll throw it on broil for a short bit. And that's it! Yummy onigiri for me. 

Nira Omelet にら卵

I grew up eating this. Whenever we have nira left over from making gyoza dumplings or other dish, I head straight for the fridge to grab a couple of eggs and make this amazingly simple and delicious omelet. Nira is also sometimes called Chinese chives. It tastes like a cross between garlic and green onions, and looks like a flat version of green onions (without the bulbs on the end). They're dark green and they look like a bundle of grass.


Here is all that's needed:

• 1/4 cup nira, roughly chopped
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp cooking oil
• salt
• white pepper
• soy sauce

I heat up the pan with some olive oil and then throw in the nira. Once that gets going, I drop in the eggs, scrambled. Some salt and white pepper get sprinkled in. Not a whole lot of salt, because later I'll be adding soy sauce. 

I let the bottom brown and then flip the omelet. A few minutes on the flip side and then all done! After I serve the omelet on a plate, I dribble a little bit of soy sauce on it, just to lightly coat. Enjoy!