Onigiri

I never heard of Onigiri before. All I know about is Sushi, Sushi and Sushi. Though I like Japanese food, I never made the effort to learn more about them. I only know to go to a Japanese Restaurant and order what's on the menu. Then I eat, okay, taste good, then great, I'll come again. I also never made the effort to learn the name except for Sushi. Okay, I know what Bento is. I also know what is Tempura. But that's almost all.

I don't know what got into me one day, when I surf the net for Japanese recipes. I think I was searching for Bento. That was when I come across Onigiri and got interested in it. So I start looking up in the net for it. I learned that it was cute little rice balls. Normally, it was shape into triangular shape with or without fillings. The traditional fillings are Umeboshi or salty pickled plum, Okaka, that is bonito flakes or Katsuobushi, also bonito flakes but are usually used for making dashi stock and Shiozake which is salted salmon which is grilled and flaked.

Onigiri nowadays come in various shape and taste. You can just add anything you fancy to it and made in into various shape like bunny, round, star, love etc. You can also made it into Panda, bunny, Teddy Bear, Hello Kitty etc. It can also be sprinkle with sesame seeds, gomashio (sesame seeds mixed with salt) or furikake (mixed savory sprinkles).

Actually, there are a lot of articles in the net about Onigiri. The one I found most useful and full of information is by Maki. But it was mention that the article was originally appeared on justbento.com

 My heart shape Onigiri with ebiko on top

 My heart and star shape Onigiri mixed with furikake

 This is not plain rice ball. It has kimchi fillings. The Korean has this type of rice too. It is also triangular shape with Kimchi fillings and wrap with seaweed.  It is called Sam Gak Kim Bap.

Disaster Cake (Steamed Cheese Chocolate Cake)

This is my disaster cake. No, it's not a cake that turn out wrong and have to be throw away. In fact, it's delicious which is a relief to me. Though it don't turn out nice when coming out from the steamer. It's like the moon surface, got hills and valley.

I call it a disaster cake because my mixer broke down half way through when creaming the cream cheese. I think it's a nightmare to most bakers. So what should I do? Beat the other ingredients with my hand? No way am I going to do that. Anyway, I don't think I'm able to beat the egg white until fluffy. So what should I do? I choose the easiest way. That is just dump everything in. I'm not so worry that the cake will not turn out right because it's a steam cake, so it should turn out right. Well I was right, it did turn out alright except for the moon like surface.

I got this recipe from Yochana blog - http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2008/08/steamed-cheese-chocolate-cake.html. She has lots of nice recipes.

See, it don't look nice. The surface is not smooth. And the marble effect, well I'm not good at that. See what happen to my Hoon Kueh, and now this. But the most important thing is that it taste very nice. Well, I'm going the make this again and again when I change my mixer (it's still under warranty). The cake was all finished the next day.