Miso Flavored Grilled Rice Ball / おしゃれ味噌焼きおにぎり

日本語のレシピは　ビーガン、ベジタリアン情報満載の　Hachidory から　ご覧下さい。

 

The days of extreme heat has gone !

What a relief !

Now the second best season of the year is visiting here.

That is autumn, the rice harvesting season.

I love to see the rice field before harvesting.

The fields turn into the beds of golden yellow, the air is filled with the fragrance of the young grains !

I visited Akita prefecture, where I was born for the first time in 22 years.  

I had been wanting to visit there for years and kept thinking I would visit there in September if such an occasion comes.

Can you guess why ?

It is because the beautiful scene of the rice field and the fragrance of the rice grains are engraved in my memory.

It was the day of one of my friend’s wedding.

I was looking out of the moving car, and the scene spread in front of me was specutacular and brought me to the dream world.  

When I made the decision that I would visit Akita this year, I asked her when her wedding anniversary is.

I never wanted to miss the most beautiful moment of the rice paddy field.   

She said it is September 23. 

I was going to adjust my schedule to this date.

But wait, it is the story of more than 40 years ago.

It was right that I enquired the farmer when the expected harvesting period is.  

The answer was it would be too late if I visited there after the middle of September.

My journey to my birth place was perfect !

Everyday the weather was fine, my physical condition was fine, and I could see

the beautiful scenery of the rice fields,

 

the clear blue ocean with the white ripples coming in and out to the white sandy beach on a very quiet day without any people around me.

 

the autumn wildflowers here and there.

I even had an occasion to see the most splendid twilight that I’ve ever seen in my life one evening.

 

The friend who offered me a stay invited our old friends for me one day.  

Can you imagine my surprise and happiness that I met them for the first time in half a century !  

All of us were naive young girls, but are now mature old ladies with wrinkles on our faces, but with high spirits.

How quickly time flies !

How fortunate I am !

 

Right !

Now I have to go to the recipe of this month.

It is a rice dish called “Yakionigiri”.

By the way, Akita is famous for good rice harvest and for its quality.  I think the climate makes it possible. 
I enjoyed this tasty Akita rice in every meal while I stayed there. 

You can make Yakionigiri with any short grain rice.

So try it as you need only a few ingredients for this simple recipe.

 

 

 

Miao Flavored Grilled Rice Ball

おしゃれ味噌焼きおにぎり

 

Ingredients

For steamed rice

300g rice grains

40g miso paste

5g kombu sea vegetable / kelp

450g water

 

For grilling

1tsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp miso paste

1 Tbsp mirin / sweet rice wine

For topping

Nukadzuke carrot, cucumber, radish sprouts, sesame seeds or vegetables, nuts, seeds of your choice

Procedure

1.    First, prepare the steamed rice. 

Dilute miso paste with 50g of water out of 450g of water. 

 

Place rice, kombu, diluted miso paste and the rest of water in the pot, and cook as usual. 

*If you use an electric rice cooker, follow the scale of the cooker for the amount of water for 2 cups of rice. 

*Wash and soak the rice in the water at least 1 hour before cooking to let it absorb enough water for fluffier tasty rice, especially during the cold season or if the rice is not fresh and stocked for long periods.  I soak for one night for the polished rice, and for a whole day to two days for the brown rice. 

2.    Prepare the vegetables for topping while cooking rice. 

Slice nukadzuke carrot thin rounds and cut into flower shape with the vegetable cutter. 

 

Slice cucumber thin rounds, rub salt, leave for a few minutes, and then squeeze to remove the water.

3.    When the rice is done, remove Kombu and mix the rice with a spatula gently as if adding some air into the rice.

4.    Make onigiri balls with the cooked rice. 

*Press harder than making normal onigiri as the ball could be broken while grilling on the pan if it is pressed lightly. 

*You can shape into rounds, triangles or any shapes that you found easier for you to form.  

*I am making round ones weighing 40g for each here. 

5.    Heat up the pan, coat the surface of the pan with sesame oil, place the onigiri balls.

 

6.    Grill both sides until golden brown. 

7.    Combine miso and mirin in a bowl.

8.    Paste the miso mixture on the surface of onigiri balls and grill further till the paste get dried.  

*Once miso mixture is pasted it easily get burnt, so do not stay away from the pan.   

 

9.    Flip over, and coat miso paste on the other sides and grill the same way.

10. Transfer grilled onigiri onto the plates, garnish with the vegetables prepared earlier.

 

Notes

Yakionigiri / grilled rice ball is tasty enough without any toppings.

So you can enjoy it straight away after grilling.

 

Nnnnn~g !  Crispy outside and fluffy inside.  Irresistible !!!

I more often shape into triangles rather than rounds.

Visit this page to see how to make triangle rice balls.

Yakionigiri goes very well with nukadzuke pickles. 

 

Happy Cooking！

 

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