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Onigiri in a Jar
posted by edna lewis on Mon, 2009-11-02 23:56
Do you remember the video Maki posted a few weeks back? Where the mother was able to get the kid dressed, fed, and out of the house with a bento lunch in 5 minutes? Well, one of her "tricks" was to put some rice and furikake in a jar; the kid shook it up and out came a perfect onigiri.
Well, I tried it. The first ball came out perfect; I was pleasantly surprised. Except the base of the jar was larger than the top and the ball got stuck. On my second attempt, the rice didn't ball up. The third time, I rinsed the jar with some water, then added the rice. That was a little bit better, but I got a rather small ball with a lot of little rice bits surrounding it; it wasn't a perfect ball like the first one.
The onigiri in a jar fascinated me. Has anyone else tried this method? (I'm not asking "how to make/shape onigiri." I'm getting pretty good at it.) Any suggestions, other than using a straight edged jar, to offer? Should the rice have been hotter?
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Could it be that your rice was cooling down with each of your attempts?
In the video the mother takes a portion of rice directly from the rice cooker. This means that it will be piping hot (as hot as rice that has remained covered for ten minutes after being cooked).
All I can suggest if that if you're asking "Should the rice have been hotter?" then that probably means that the rice you used could have been hotter. Rice balls form more easily the hotter the rice and the temperature rice cookers maintain the rice at seems to be optimum for this.
I use this method too
http://www.arkonitebento.net/2009_10_01_archive.html
As the rice cools it loses the ability to stick together.
HTH
www.arkonite.net
www.arkonitebento.net
I've wanted to try this! I keep searching the dollarstore for jars...maybe I should just give up and go to the craft store :\
hana.yori.dango
I just used a screw top tupperware jar, nothing special. A jam jar might work too?
Hi,
I'm fascinated by this but I haven't seen the video, could you link me please?
Thanks!
here is the link to the post about that onigiri in a jar
The Big Onigiri.
- Wherever you go, there you are. -
My grandmother made onigiri with a similar method but used two bowls cupped together. The rice should be freshly cooked and just out of the pot.
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