Onigiri or Jumokbob ; Rice ball

As many people know, most of Asian people live on Rice. So there are a variety of cooking ways with rice in Asia.

In Japan and Korea, there are almost the same food-you can call also rice ball, called Onigiri(JP) and Jumokbob(KR).

This food is really simple and easy to make and it's just proper to light lunch or sometimes to picnic too.

Personally, I recommend to make it for your special picnic box.

▷ Ingredients

- 4 cups of freshly cooked Japanese-style rice (What kind of rice can you use? See Looking at different types of rice. No, you cannot use long-grain, jasmine, basmati, or Uncle Ben's.)

- 2 sheets of nori seaweed, cut into 3cm/2 inch wide strips

- Salt

- Fillings. Some classic fillings are pickled plum (umeboshi), bonito flakes just moistened with soy sauce (okaka), bonito flakes mixed with pickled plum (umekaka), flaked cooked salted salmon (shake or shiozake), cooked salty cod roe (tarako), chopped up pickles (tsukemono), and tsukudani, various tidbits - bonito cubes, tiny clams, etc. - cooked and preserved in a strong soy-sugar-sauce. Some non-traditional fillings that work well are described below.

▷ Directions

1. The key to making good onigiri is to have freshly cooked, hot rice. You can't make good onigiri with cold rice.

2. Wet your impeccably clean hands with cold water, and sprinkle them with salt. Take 1/4th of the rice and place on one hand. Make a dent in the middle of the rice with your other hand. Put in about 1 tsp or so worth of filling in the dent.

3. Working rapidly, wrap the rice around the filling, and form into a ball. To make the traditional triangular shape, cup your hand sharply to form each corner, and keep turning it until you are happy with the shape. Practive makes perfect.

4. Wrap the rice ball with 1-2 strips of nori seaweed.

5. Repeat for the rest of the rice.

6. Enjoy your picnic~!! :D

Okonomiyaki; Japanese Pizza

Shall we try 'Okonomiyaki'?

Have you ever heard about Okonomiyaki? Okonomiyaki was invented in Osaka in Japan and these days, it is internationally gaining in popularity beyond the whole Japan. Okonomiyaki has basically sweetish flavor pretty similar to Teriyaki sauce, and you can put any topping in it whatever you want as the meaning of the name-'Okonomi' means what you like and 'Yaki' means grilled. But the most popular toppings are pork and shrimp. The basic ingredients are not fatty and included some vegetables so that Okonomiyaki is pretty good for health and diet as well as the taste. It looks like a kind of pizza, so it can be simply explained like 'Japanese Pizza.'

You can make this attractive food very easily with some materials and a griddle-if you don't have it, don't worry. It's enough with a common pan! Now, if you want to try this food, let's see the recipe.

▷ Ingredients

: Okonomi flour(or general flour), water, eggs, cabbage, green onions, other vegetables(if you want), topping; bacon, beef, shrimp, squid or whatever you want, Okonomi sauce, mayonnaise.

※Optional: Katsuobushi (Bonito Flakes), Aonori (Seaweed Flakes)

▷ Direction

1. In a large bowl, WHISK together okonomiyaki flour and water until smooth

2. CUT cabbage into 3cm strips and SLICE green onions thinly.

3. ADD eggs, cabbage, onions, chopped shrimp or squid(if you want) to the bowl and MIX

4. Oil a griddle and POUR the mixture on the griddle

5. FORM it into pancake around 1.5cm thick

6. ADD bacon pieces on the top of the pancake and WAIT for 3 minutes

7. FLIP OVER pancake and COOK for 3-4 minutes again

8. FLIP pancake again and WAIT for 3-4 minutes

9. Move pancake to plate and Put okonomi sauce and mayonnaise on the pancake

(If you prepare Katsuobushi and Aonori, put them on too)

10. FINISH! and ENJOY Okonomiyaki !!!

☆ Additional Tips!

Okonomiyaki can go really well with cold beer because of the sweetish taste. In addition to, you can freely manage the size of it, so you cut it into bite size and enjoy it with some cold beverages and your friends.

※ Reference

http://www.okonomiyakiworld.com