Cook: Shoyu Hot Dogs and Rice Balls
Whenever we went on a road trip when I was younger (and still to this day), my mom would pack rice balls with shoyu hot dogs to eat along the way. This is one of my favorite and most nostalgic snacks. It’s super easy to make and you can have so much fun with all the different rice molds and furikake varieties now. The shoyu hot dogs are also a great substitute for spam when you’re making fried rice. We’ll call that fusion fried rice for now. PS - This recipe is for you, Thao!
Shoyu (Soy Sauce) Hot Dog Ingredients:
A package of good old American hot dogs (sliced into bite sized pieces)
Shoyu or Teriyaki sauce
Rice Ball Ingredients:
Japanese white rice
Furikake (rice sprinkles) and Togarashi (Japanese 5 spice powder)
Umeboshi (fermented Japanese plums) - optional
Rice (onigiri) molds (there are literally tons out there, you can find all different shapes and sizes, you can also just mold the rice with your hands)
Directions:
Cook and prepare your rice. If you’re unsure of how to do this, check out my post on cooking perfect rice. Do this ahead of time so that the rice is cool when you need to form the onigiri (rice balls).
Marinate your hot dogs in soy sauce or teriyaki sauce for 15-20 minutes. Pour everything into a pan and cook until the hot dogs get a little brown on them. Once this step is done, stick them in a container and you’re ready to go.
To form the rice balls, have a small bowl of water ready (for your hands - this will help the rice not stick to your fingers). If you’re using a mold, wipe some water inside to help with sticking. Place half of the rice in the mold and then stick a small piece of umeboshi inside. You can skip this if you don’t like the plums. Or, you can stuff it with anything you like! Fill the rest with rice and firmly press down with the top of your rice mold. Pull out the rice and you have onigiri.
Once you’re done forming all the balls, sprinkle some furikake on top.
I found these cute molds at my Mom’s. Added in some shoga (red ginger) for a little extra flavor.
Rainbow and flower shaped onigiri molds.