Rice balls!!!!!

[Jigzy]

Has any of you ever had one before? What was it like? What all do they put in rice balls? Anyway I think that they look really good and I'd really love to try one some day. I wonder how I could get one. I really want one. I also really love the design and I think its a really cute looking food.

[armeck]

my cousin tried to make rice balls. but he is bad at shaping things so they came out as rice triangles.

[K. Ayato]

That's why you shape them in plastic wrap and keep the rice hot so it retains the shape you want them to be.

[Nate]

I've had rice and since I'm pretty sure shape doesn't affect the flavor of food I've pretty much technically had rice balls by proxy.

[Vii]

I tried making them once. The rice part was okay (Honestly, all I did was put rice and water in a rice cooker and press the button.), but I kinda improvised the filling and it tasted...eiw. I think I mixed a can of tuna fish with some mayo, soy sauce, and who knows what else. Needless to say, I can't cook very well. >_<

As for where you could get them, you'd probably have to make them yourself, or look for an Asian food store that might sell them.

[K. Ayato]

Vii, keep practicing. Just 'cause you're not a good cook YET doesn't mean you can't get better at it.

[armeck]

I tried making them once. The rice part was okay (Honestly, all I did was put rice and water in a rice cooker and press the button.), but I kinda improvised the filling and it tasted...eiw. I think I mixed a can of tuna fish with some mayo, soy sauce, and who knows what else. Needless to say, I can't cook very well. >_<

As for where you could get them, you'd probably have to make them yourself, or look for an Asian food store that might sell them.

I second what k said. practice makes perfect with cooking. I'm sure even the greatest chefs in the world have made those mistakes

[K. Ayato]

It also helps to follow a recipe as written until you either have it memorized or are familiar enough with it to add your own creative spin, including substituting one ingredient for another without sabotaging the final result and flavor.

[Atria35]

Rice balls really just taste like rice. With maybe a touch of salt. My brother and I like them with tuna and a touch of soy sauce in them.

@ Vii - when it comes to cooking, simplicity is best. Tuna might go with mayo in tuna fish salad, but don't mix mayo with soy sauce. Either do one or another with tuna.

Practice really does make perfect - when you get enough experience under your belt, you can figure out what flavors go together.

[Yuki-Anne]

I tried making them once. The rice part was okay (Honestly, all I did was put rice and water in a rice cooker and press the button.), but I kinda improvised the filling and it tasted...eiw. I think I mixed a can of tuna fish with some mayo, soy sauce, and who knows what else. Needless to say, I can't cook very well. >_<

As for where you could get them, you'd probably have to make them yourself, or look for an Asian food store that might sell them.

Recommendation: Try again, but leave out the soy sauce. They sell tuna-mayo onigiri everywhere in Japan, but it never has soy sauce in it.

Here's another one that's actually really popular and is probably best suited to an American palate: chicken. You could probably make it work with either teriyaki chicken or barbecue chicken. I wouldn't recommend trying with fried chicken, but that could work too.

I bet it would also be tasty with pulled pork. Another popular flavor is shrimp-mayo. It's pretty good. Any of the more signature Japanese flavors, such as seaweed, picked plum, and cooked fish egg (aka yaki-tarako, my personal favorite; it's really not at all as gross as it sounds), are going to be really hard to find in America. You could also take Chinese-style fried rice and make an onigiri without filling with that.

The key to a good riceball is, as K. Ayato said, putting it in seran wrap while it's still hot and shaping it. You also have to press it as you shape it. Putting pressure on the rice keeps it from falling apart.

[K. Ayato]

And don't free it from the plastic until it is cooled. Another thing, if you're using chicken or tuna, make sure it is really drained and don't use a lot of mayonnaise (since that adds liquid). You just want enough to make a nice paste.

[Vii]

Holy cow, I never expected so much cooking advice! XD
I was following a recipe, but it said to just kind of make your own filling, giving examples of what kind of meat and such to use, one of them was tuna with mayo, and since I didn't have chicken or pork on hand, I tried that. I did do the plastic-wrap thing though, and it worked fine.

Maybe I'll try again in the future.

[Jigzy]

I wonder, do they make rice balls with cheese in it or would that work? Because a lot of times I eat cheese mixed up in my rice.

[Atria35]

^ The great thing about rice balls is that you can put whatever you want to in them. If you'd like cheesy rice, go for it! ^.^

[Yuki-Anne]

I wonder, do they make rice balls with cheese in it or would that work? Because a lot of times I eat cheese mixed up in my rice.

It's not something I'm sure I've seen a whole lot of, but I'd say go for it and see how it turns out. It might actually be pretty good; the hot rice will melt the cheese while you mix it... heck, that sounds like something I'd like to try sometime...

[AdriTan]

You all are making my mouth water....... Cept for the bit about mayo and soy sauce...... Lol

[Mr. SmartyPants]

It's just rice... what's the big deal?

Er... oh wait...

[Xeno]

Did somebody say rice?


Seriously though, the others in this thread know what they're talking about. I don't eat rice very often.

[Jigzy]

Yeeeeaaahhh I wanna cheesy rice ball and maybe with some good kind of meat in it maybe chicken, pork or beef, something like that but mayo sounds like it would be nasty in rice and soy sauce don't sound too good either.

[Yuki-Anne]

Never mix mayo and soy sauce. Although if you mix mayo with Shichimi it's really good.

[K. Ayato]

If you want rice balls with cheese, you're probably thinking of more of an Italian recipe than a Japanese one.

[sarahjoy78]

Would this be a bad time to ask WHAT'S A RICE BALL??!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[K. Ayato]

To Wikipedia!

[sarahjoy78]

hahaha

[Atria35]

Yeeeeaaahhh I wanna cheesy rice ball and maybe with some good kind of meat in it maybe chicken, pork or beef, something like that but mayo sounds like it would be nasty in rice and soy sauce don't sound too good either.

... Have you ever even had soy sauce? Most Chinese food is flavored with it, so you've probably had soy sauce on rice and didn't even realize it (esp if you eat the beef dishes)

[K. Ayato]

Or they use other sauces like mirin or hoisin.

[Arya Raiin]

My friend from china would bring rice balls to share at school. Needless to say, they were quite practical and delicious. She shaped the rice into triangles and wrapped a piece of seaweed around them. No filling, just the salty flavor of the seaweed. However, I'm partial to plum rice balls as well. Really anything goes with them.

[Hugo Bernhardt]

This is where I learned to make them: http://justhungry.com/2003/12/obento.html

[Yuki-Anne]

Man this thread makes me crave them so bad... to the local supermarket! *WHOOSH!*

[Jigzy]

... Have you ever even had soy sauce? Most Chinese food is flavored with it, so you've probably had soy sauce on rice and didn't even realize it (esp if you eat the beef dishes)

I don't know. I forgot what it tastes like but I just don't think it looks good and every time I see the packets of it at the Chinese food place I never get it. I always usually get plain fried rice every time but I've had it where they put some kind of meat in it before. Like chicken or some other kind of meat that I don't know what you call it. I don't really eat many of the beef dishes either.