Sekiro: Sweet Rice Ball

One of my husband’s favorite moments in Sekiro is a boss fight with a rather tenacious foe. You enter the boss fight, only to realize you’re basically locked in a small closet with a boss who has FAR too many arms for their own good. He wanted to get away from the boss, see what was going on, and just died over and over. Finally, instead of entering the fight and panicking, he resigned himself to standing his ground against this terrifying foe, only to find the fight was basically a fast paced rhythm game of parrying and counter attacks. It went from a terrible, swear word-inducing fight to an extremely neat display of the game’s mechanics and the feeling of mastering a puzzle. There are a ton of really cool encounters and moments in Sekiro, but  this one for whatever reason stands out.

This recipe is the result of a few random accidents in the kitchen. When I was working on my Saltuna recipe, I needed a can as a placeholder. The only can in the correct shape was a can of sweetened mashed red beans. I didn’t want to waste them so I decided to throw it together with some rice. I was surprised how easily they shaped into onigiri. I started thinking about how I could use this for the Sweet Rice Ball recipe found in Sekiro but the color wasn’t deep enough. I eventually discovered the wonderful world of black rice. The first time I used black rice, I was not expecting the rice to turn purple. Clearly, I didn’t do enough research before using it. When adding a small amount of black rice to white rice, it colors the rice into a beautiful purple hue and adds a slightly nutty flavor. Adding the mashed red beans on top of that transforms into a wonderful lightly sweet rice ball. At that moment I knew this recipe was ready for the blog.

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups of sushi rice
½ cup black rice
water (follow the instructions of your rice cooker)
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
16 oz can of sweetened red bean (mashed)
nori furikake (optional)

Put the sushi rice in a bowl and fill it with cold water. With your hands, rub in a circular motion. You’ll notice the water is opaque which means it still needs to be cleaned. Strain the water out and repeat until the water is clear. Place the cleaned rice, black rice, and water required into a rice cooker and allow the rice to cook.

Combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. When the rice has finished cooking, remove from the rice cooker and place inside a non-metallic bowl. Add the vinegar mixture to the rice while the rice is still hot. Take the rice paddle and fold in the rice vinegar. Continue to fold the rice until it has cooled down. If you aren’t going to use it immediately, cover with a wet towel to keep the rice nice and moist.

Mix the mashed red beans with the rice. Prepare a small bowl of water since you are going to want to keep your hands moist during this process. Wet your hands and take a hand full of the rice and begin forming triangle shapes. Put a moderate amount of pressure to make sure they are forming correctly. 

If you want to add a slightly savory flavor to these, dip the edge in a bit of nori furikake. The onigiri can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Print Recipe

Sweet Rice Ball

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups of sushi rice
• ½ cup black rice
• water follow the instructions of your rice cooker
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 16 oz can of sweetened red bean mashed
• nori furikake optional

Instructions

• Put the sushi rice in a bowl and fill it with cold water. With your hands, rub in a circular motion. You’ll notice the water is opaque which means it still needs to be cleaned. Strain the water out and repeat until the water is clear. Place the cleaned rice, black rice, and water required into a rice cooker and allow the rice to cook.
• Combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. When the rice has finished cooking, remove from the rice cooker and place inside a non-metallic bowl. Add the vinegar mixture to the rice while the rice is still hot. Take the rice paddle and fold in the rice vinegar. Continue to fold the rice until it has cooled down. If you aren’t going to use it immediately, cover with a wet towel to keep the rice nice and moist.
• Mix the mashed red beans with the rice. Prepare a small bowl of water since you are going to want to keep your hands moist during this process. Wet your hands and take a hand full of the rice and begin forming triangle shapes. Put a moderate amount of pressure to make sure they are forming correctly.
• If you want to add a slightly savory flavor to these, dip the edge in a bit of nori furikake. The onigiri can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.