How to cook delicious rice.

I read a rice ball shop opened in NY in last year-end. It is Oms/b (omusubi = rice ball), the shop owner is Japanese and she says she opened this shop because sushi was easy to find in NY, but she could not find a rice ball shop. From what I read, they arrange rice ball a for New Yorker's taste. Teriyaki chicken, fried shrimp, beef, prosciutto and even pastrami variations, and wasabi ginger?! She says she made it because many people asked wasabi and ginger. ( Rice ball is not sushi, so we do not eat wasabi or giner with them). Anyway I am glad to know people in NY like it!

In Japan, the rice ball is a very popular food of course and like I wrote before in a convenient store topic, 7-Eleven's rice ball profits exceed Denny's entire annual sales! Greggman.com has a review of convenience store's rice balls. To eat them, you need to know how to open them actually. ha ha. By the way, We have a rice ball shop too, this shop is in Ginza. Their No1 selling item is Karashi mentaiko, it is a hot and spicy cod egg which is Hakata city of Fukuoka prefecture's special. In Japan, traditional style rice balls are more popular than new arrangements. Since a long time ago, the rice ball was a sort of lunch box which was wrapped by bamboo leaf, and some shops  still use them. This is very nice because of bamboo leaf's good smell.

Anyway some sales points for a rice ball shop are that they care about the water, the rice,  the nori, how to cook rice and how to hold rice. Yes, to make good a delicious rice ball, its stiffness is important.  I checked out  this Japanese site,  they teach us some good hints for rice balls.

How to cook delicious rice ( For Japanese rice )
As soon as you pour water into rice, begin running tap water. This reduces the strong bran smell.
Without water, wash rice as if you scrub rice delicately with your palm.
During washing, when water begins to turn white, run water quickly.
Wash rice for 3 minutes.
Soak rice in water for at least one hour.
Use cold water to cook rice

Points!
For 3 cups of rice (180cc = 1cup), add a 5cc Honey. (I've just known this, I will try!)
Do not push the rice. Try to hold rice softly.

Anyway rice ball is called Omusubi and Onigiri in Japanese. Both mean "to hold" Ah My favorite rice ball? It is hard to pick one; today's feeling is Yaki onigiri

Comments

[Agegreeintege]

apa yang saya cari, terima kasih

[BERNARD , ROME]

ANYBODY KNOWS HOW TO PREPARE KARASHI MENTAIKO FROM A RAW POLLOCK ROE?

[Huang]

Erm, with all the washing, there will be no more vitamins left in the rice !

[robert]

charles, it's a talc/glucose mix, it provides a sheen to the rice and keeps it from breaking as easily during shipping.(it might be a good idea to rinse it despite the common practice of "dirty rice" there have been studies linking talc to heart problems, not conclusive I'm sure, but then, neither was Vioxx or sodium naproxine until recently) You dont need to add anymore water after soaking it, if you add enough water (as indicated)it doesn't soak it all up and the remaining water is enough to keep the rice from scorching. It has been a long time since I cooked rice the way you are describing--which if I remember right was printed on the back of the package, that's how long ago it was. Trust me, get a rice cooker, follow the instructions Mari posted, it is a wonderful experience to eat such nicely prepared rice. :)

On rice balls(cakes): Once a year at Uwajimaya ( a local Japanese grocery store), usually in the summer time, there will be a vendor selling these "ten"..something I cant remember the name..but they are the rice balls, wrapped in Bamboo leaf, in the middle is a tempura shrimp..gosh I honestly cannot remember the ingredients too well, but I know I can eat about 4 or 5 without even trying..they are delicious! When I used to work there, I would get the Shiso omusubi with umeboshi in the middle. it was my favorite lunch! Now it looks like I'll have to take a road trip to New York once the roads are open again. all this talk of rice balls has made me hungry!

[Jo]

I wonder how rice balls you are talking to are related to きびだんご I remember from my translation exercise on ももたろう. Thanks for the recipe, 作ってみます！

[cecile]

i love onigiri. i once declared i'll go on a onigiri diet and that lasted for quite some time. although it was really hard because we don't have onigiri stores here. hmmm, i hope someone would make a really good onigiri shop here.

[Claire （クレア）]

懐かしい！ My okaasan sometimes made me onigiri the second year I stayed with them. My otousan's otouto-san died, and they went to the funeral, so she made me onigiri for dinner. I didn't mind, although she thought it was an inconvenience for me. I miss conbini in general and onigiri in particular, although I could make my own and take them for lunch. I have never had karashi mentaiko onigiri, although I have eaten it before--it is very delicious! I will have to get some and make onigiri.

[Charles]

The American way of cooking rice is different, no soaking and washing. My method is to boil 1.75 cups of water, turn on low heat when boiling and add 1 cup rice, cook 20 minutes, take off heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. The water/rice ratio is important to get the right consistency, you can add more or less water if you like.
I've seen the Japanese method of washing and soaking, but I can't get it right. US rice usually has talc added (I don't know why) so when you wash it, the water is really really white. So once you've soaked the rice, how much water do you need to add when you cook the rice? You can't just cook it with no added water, just using the water the rice absorbed, can you? My friends that cook rice this way all use rice cookers which do everything automatically. I'd buy a rice cooker but I only cook 1/2 cup of rice at a time, I can't find a rice cooker that is smaller than 3 cups.