振り掛けのお握り sprinkled rice balls

I love how the Japanese always have a way of making life easier. Be it through technological advances or simple innovations in something as necessary as food.

I started experimenting with 振り掛け* as I always have with any of the items I see on the shelves in the 99yen shop. I think living in Japan has taught me to embrace novelty.

To add variety, I would sprinkle some of these furikake onto plain rice, mix them for extra flavour. It's amazing how a little of these could make such a difference to the taste.

One of the flavours I tried there was this 若菜と梅しそ* back in Tokyo, and liked it so much I bought another packet to bring back with me. Since I didn't know if the local Japanese stores would sell furikake, I bought another just for kicks - ６色の野菜 (6 types of vegetable).

The other day, when I was in the mood to cook Japanese rice, I decided to cook extra so that I could make some お握り* for breakfast the next day.

After leaving the sticky rice to cool, I added some sushi vinegar, and sprinkled furikake and mixed all together to form my own version of the onigiri. Nevermind that it wasn't round nor triangle to begin with, I decided the furikake was enough that seaweed wasn't necessary.

This recipe is so simple that you can do it just before going to sleep. In typical Japanese style, I cling-wrapped them in bite-sized balls, put into refrigerator so that I could heat them up for a quick snack the next day. True enough, the sweet-salty-sour combination was just right for appeasing the appetite!

P/S : Actually Japanese rice is such that no heating up is necessary. This was proven when the microwave in the pantry didn't work, but of course it should not be exposed to sun and heat especially in tropical countries like here! 


* 振り掛け; 振掛け 【ふりかけ】 (n) (1) dried food sprinkled over rice;　(2) fish flour
若菜 【わかな】 (n) young greens or herbs
梅しそ　： plum shiso
お握り(P); 御握り 【おにぎり】 (n) rice ball (often triangular, sometimes with a filling and wrapped in nori);