Fried Rice and Onigiri

Aaron and I aren't huge rice eaters. It's so plain tasting and filling. That's why I'm constantly on the lookout for fun ways to eat more rice. Onigiri (or rice balls) is something I'll make every once in a while for bentos and last night I think I found a winner of a recipe! It's pan fried, or grilled, onigiri. Weird sounding, I know, but once I tried it, I loved it! Now I want to share the wonders with you!

The tools you will need:
A pot and lid (or a rice cooker if you have one)
Rice mold (JustBento has a great tutorial for making onigiri if you don't have a mold)
a pan for grilling

The foods you will need:
1 cup of uncooked rice (not Minute Rice)
1 1/4 cup water
Oil for frying
1 can of tuna (for optional filling)

Personally, I like to add mayo, chopped green onions, chopped pickles, ground garlic, and salt & pepper to my tuna. Mmm!

To make sticky rice without a rice cooker:
1. This part is very very very important for the "sticky" in the sticky rice. Pour uncooked rice into colander and rinse until the water runs clear, for about 5 minutes. This is tedious but believe me it's necessary!
2. Add rice and water to pot. Let sit for 30 minutes.
3. After the 30 minutes, turn heat to high and once it starts to boil stir and cover.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Now turn off heat and let the rice steam for about 15 minutes. DON'T take off lid yet!
6. After it has steamed, toss the rice lightly. Now it's ready to go into the mold!

1. Fill mold 1/3 full with rice. Pack it well.
2. Next add tuna filling
3. Add another layer of rice. Really pack it in there.
4. Put on cover and press down. Let it sit there a minute or so it stick together well.

5. Flip it over and pop out the onigiri.
6. So pretty and yummy looking!
7. Now heat a little oil in a pan and fry the onigiri until it's golden brown. Flip and brown the other side.
8. Wala! Nice crispy onigiri!

I had enough tuna for three onigiri, but didn't fry the third one. Actually, I had so much rice left over from my one cup of cooked rice I made all these onigiri:

With some extra chopped green onions I had, I mixed them with some rice and then molded them. Also I've read on a few bento blogs about adding ketchup to the onigiri when you fry it. I had only a little rice left so I made some small onigiri and then tried it. Aaron and I were both pleasantly surprised at joy how AWESOME it was! If you are feeling frisky at all, I dare you to try it!

Have you ever made rice balls before? Do you have a favorite pairing for rice?