Japanese Night

Konnichiwa minnasan! For girls night, my roommate and I made rice balls, dumplings, miso soup, and Vietnamese Summer Rolls (a recipe we posted before). Rice balls, or onigiri, are a staple of Japanese culture, and are really pretty easy to make.

Here's what you'll need:

• Sushi Rice
• Nori (seaweed)
• Filling: tuna, plum paste, tofu salad, beans, etc
  
• Salt

What you'll do:

1. Cook the rice according to the instructions on the package
2. Set out a bowl of cold water
3. Slice seaweed into small squares
   
4. As the rice cools, dip your hands into the cold water and spread about a teaspoon of salt onto them.
   
5. Pick up about a handful of rice, and mold into the shape of a ball (or a triangle when you have the hang of it)
6. Create a small hole in the rice and fill with filling of choice
7. Put a piece of seaweed over the hole.

The water prevents the rice from sticking to your hands. Rice balls are best cold. I'd also highly recommend rolling the balls in sesame seeds-- I don't really like to just eat plain rice myself-- and put a lot of filling.

As for the dumplings? We bought frozen and steamed them. I think we'll try making them from scratch another day. The miso soup didn't turn out, so I won't post the recipe here.

Thanks!