Yaki Onigiri

Cooking the rice

1. Wash the rice thoroughly until the water runs clear.
2. Using a small claypot or covered saucepan, combine washed rice with 3 cups of water.
3. Uncovered, bring the rice to the boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat, remove pot from the burner and allow to rest and finish cooking in its own steam for 10 minutes.
5. Rice is ready to transfer to a large bowl for cooling, some rice may have stuck and charred to the bottom of the pot, separate for the rest of the rice and set aside for a simple soup (pour hot tea or broth over charred rice, add some fresh parsley, coriander, or mitsuba and enjoy while sushi rice cools.)
6. Once rice is cool, pour over the sushi seasoning, purchased or homemade, and fold through.
7. Select onigiri mold and cut some cling wrap pieces for lining the mold.
8. Line the onigiri mold with cling wrap, loosely fill the mold with rice, wrap and depress. Transfer molded balls to a plate for the refrigerator.

Unagi Sauce

1. Combine mirin and sake in a small saucepan, bring to the boil.
2. Add sugar and stir until completely dissolved.
3. Add soy sauce and bring back to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and allow to cool in the pan before decanting. Store in the refrigerator.

Sweet Miso Sauce

1. Mixy, Mixy... Store in the refrigerator.

Assembly

1. Cut some nori strips to suit the rice balls, set aside.
2. Get the rice balls out of the refrigerator and unwrap.
3. Heat up a non stick pan and prepare with a little spray oil.
4. Place rice balls into the pan and brush a little unagi sauce over each one.
5. Carefully flip rice balls and repeat until the surface is caramelized to your liking.
6. Either transfer to a serving dish with nori pieces on the side, or stand the rice balls up in the pan and wrap a nori sheet around one edge and transfer to a plate to cool.
7. Serve with Sweet Miso Sauce, pickles, Miso soup, Yudofu, Edamame etc.