When I’m not busy mixing fruit and meat into bizarre combinations I am lucky enough to be a primary school teacher. Many of the children I teach are from Japanese backgrounds, so I often see these delightful little triangular mounds of rice in their lunchboxes. I was amazed at how perfect they look, and being a lover of Japanese foods in restaurants I became curious about these creations.
My understanding is that these are typically stuffed with various fillings, but for this attempt I tried something a bit different and worked the filling through the rice. It’s worth saying here, I never make claims to pure authenticity in my recipes – just make them taste good. Here, the prawn’s sweet-salty flavour delicately kisses the pineapple’s sweet-sour tones to make a lovely little snack.
All of the ingredients here are available at most large supermarkets, but you may need to be pointed in the right direction.
Ingredients
- Prepared Japanese Rice – instructions here. Follow up until step 4.
- Ripe Pineapple – a few rings goes a long way.
- A couple of handfuls of cooked prawns
- Chilli flakes to taste
- Salt
- Soy Sauce
- Nori (seaweed)
- Black sesame seeds for decoration
Method
- Finely mince the prawn and pineapple in a food processor, or with finely chop with a knife.
- Mix thoroughly with the prepared rice and season liberally with soy sauce. Taste and adjust to your liking and add chilli flakes to your own liking. I just like a little kick.
- Spread out on a large plate or tray for it to cool down – this will be essential for the shaping process, as it needs to be nice a sticky.
- To shape, wet your hands with a little water and sprinkle with salt. Take a handful and shape into whatever form you like – cones, triangles, rounds are all fine. Add a little strip of nori along the bottom.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds for a nice bit of visual contrast on the yellow surface. Wrap in cling film and eat cold.
