Onigiri

So I am obsessed with asian markets as many of my friends back in SD seem to be. So it was only natural that I found myself in a korean market at 10pm just because I was bored and didn't want to go home. I had a small list of things I wanted to pick up, some cheap meat for the ferrets and a new strange drink if I could find one. The market I went to in particular has a whole section devoted to cooking tools and serviceware which made me giddy and even more devoted to the odd hybrid of an albersons and a fruit stand. They had everything from $500 speciality suchi rice cookers to $0.50 kids chopsticks (the connected and rather adorable kind). In my meandering and oggling at the vast number of hello kitty themed items I ended up with a $2.99 little plastic triangular Onigiri press. I could have gone with a star or heart shaped one but the sinple triangle one stood out and I had to have it. An hour later, after comtemplating if I needed a 5lb. bag of seseme seeds, I checked out with a $2 cut of beef for the ferrets, a soda whose flavor I can only expalian as carbonated bubblegum, and my press.When I got home I started making rice and mixing up some fillings that I thought might taste good. I had no recipe so I made it all up on my own which may burn the souls of any tradianalist japanses cooks out there, but hey, I was enthusiatic and my computer was charging. Who would want to wait a hour jsut to get a recipe when you can just dive in and recreate the wheel?!

---How To Make It Yourself---
tools

• large pot for rice
• small pan
  
• 2 bowls for mixing
• Onigiri press OR your hands
  

ingredients

• 4 cups medium grain white rice
• 8 cups water
• 1 Tbsp. oil
  
• salt to taste
  
• SAVORY FILLING
• 1 fish filet (i used Talapia)
• curry spice mix (see privious recipe)
  
• SALTY FILLING
• 1 can wax beans
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. hot sauce
  
• SWEET FILLING
• 1 can kidney beans
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 2 tsp soy sauce
  

instructions

• RICE
• rinse rice till water runs clear
• add to boiling water and cover till cooked
• add and mix in oil and salt to taste
• you can mash the rice slightly to give it more adhearing ability if your rice isn't sticking together very well

• SAVORY FILLING
• cut raw fish into 1/2 inch cubes
• dust with curry mix to taste
• cook in pan untill done
• SALTY FILLING
• cut beans into 1/2 inch segments
  
• add to bowl with soy and hot sauce
• SWEET FILLING
• mash beans into a thick and chunky paste
• add sugar, p. butter, and soy sauce and stir until well combined
•  ONIGIRI
• in hand or press take 1/4 cup rice and form into ball or triangle
• make a well in the scenter and add 1/2 Tbsp. filling
• add another 1/4 cup rice on top and press to form into desired shape
• eat wither warm, room temp, or chilled