Guild Wars 2: Rice Balls

Let’s get this out of the way first: I’m SUPER excited for the Heart of Thorns expansion coming out this year. With the announcement of this expansion I’ve been playing a lot of Guild Wars 2 again. Currently, in Guild Wars 2, the lunar festival (Happy Chinese New Year) is taking place and a few food items are dropping a bit more commonly right now. One of those items is a rice ball also known as onigiri. Traditionally these are triangular shaped rice balls with a filling (fish, umeboshi, etc) and wrapped with nori (seaweed). I have taken a slightly simpler approach. Instead of filling these onigiri I simply mix the rice with salmon and shape them into triangles. The end result is a delicious large triangle of rice that tastes like a sushi roll.

Required Equipment: bowls, cutting board, pan, rice cooker
Ingredients:
– 2 cups sushi rice
– water (your rice cooker will tell you how much you need to fill)
– 3 tbsp rice vinegar
– 2 tbsp sugar
– ½ tsp salt

– ½ lb salmon
– salt and pepper
– 2 tbsp soy sauce
– 3 green onions, chopped
– 2 tbsp sesame seeds
– 1 nori sheet, cut into strips

To make the sushi rice, please follow the instructions in my Dadliest Sushi recipe.

Place a pan over medium-high heat and allow it to warm. Generously salt and pepper the salmon. Once seasoned, place the salmon skin side down on the pan. Cook until the skin crisps up, about 4 minutes.

Flip the salmon over and cook for another 2 minutes. Flip the salmon once again and pour the soy sauce on top, cook for 2 minutes.

Place the salmon on a plate and discard the skin. Shred the salmon. Add the green onions and sesame seeds.

Mix the salmon with the cooled sushi rice.

It is now time to start shaping the onigiri. Have a small bowl of water next to you because you are going to want to keep your hands moist. Wet your hands and then take a hand full of the rice mixture and begin forming triangle shapes. Put a moderate amount of pressure to make sure they are forming correctly.

Add the nori piece.