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