Halloween Mummy Rice Balls - Onigiri

Halloween Mummy Rice Balls

The witching hour is almost upon us so here is a fun Halloween recipe that kids and not afew grown ups will adore. (They are also serious fun to make!)

Halloween Mummy rice balls, or OnHalloweenigiri as the Japanese call them, are gorgeous little triangular balls of rice wrapped in nori "bandages" to create the "mummy" look. The eyes are made from little pieces of cheese and little dots of nori. There are a couple of methods you can use to create the basic rice ball. The method I use here is the easiest one which is to use a plastic rice ball mould. You can find these on the internet for less than $5 / £5, and they will last for years.

Apart from the mould, you just need some Japanese rice, a sheet of nori seaweed and some cheese. I peeled the cheese from a block of cheddar but you could also use a square of sandwich cheese and get the same result.

Each Halloween Mummy rice ball takes less than 5 minutes to make and you can get everyone involved - as I said they are great fun so you won't have a problem fnding volunteer creators!

If you would like to see how I made these, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Halloween Mummy rice balls - Onigiri or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.

Happy Halloween! Kurumi XXXX.

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ingredients:

makes 3 Halloween Mummy rice balls

250g / 5oz cooked Japanese rice

1 tsp salt

1 sheet of nori

a block cheddar cheese or 1 square of sandwich cheese

1 large straw

1 normal size of metal straw if you have

1 rice ball mould

1 bowl of water for rinsing the mould

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how to:

Sprinkle the salt over the cooked rice in a bowl nd gently mix in. Set aside

Next, cut some narrow strips of nori from a nori sheet.  The strips need to be about 8mm / 1/3 inch. You'll need 12 strips of nori to decorate three rice balls. Keep the rest of the nori sheet close by as you will be using this to makes your Mummy's eyeballs!

Using a fruit peeler, peel off 1 or 2 thin strips of cheddar cheese. (Alternatively, you can use a sandwich cheese square.)

Use the end of a large plastic straw to punch out 6 “eyeballs” from the cheese.  Then, use the end of a chopstick to push the “eyeball” out of the straw.

Next, create 6 “pupils” for the eyes. Use a small metal straw to press down on the nori sheet to form a small circle, then use a pair or scissors to cut out the small roundel.

Dip the rice ball mould in the small bowl of water. Wetting the mould will stop the rice from sticking to the mould.

Pack the mould with rice and then use the mould lid to compress the rice into a firm shape.

Remove the lid and use your thumb to press on the bottom of the mould to push the rice ball out. If the rice ball doesn't come out, give the mould a few taps on a plate or your counter top to help it along.

Now to the fun part - the decoration. Gently wrap the nori strips like bandages around each rice ball, using 3 or 4 strips per rice ball.

Last, add 2 cheese "eyeballs" to each rice ball. Add the nori dots to create pupils in each eye.

Repeat for as you Halloween Mummy rice balls as you wish to make!

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Halloween Mummy Rice Balls - Onigiri