Bento Bound—FM’s Tuna Onigiri

Makes 4 rice balls

2 cups freshly cooked Japanese rice (any short grain rice will do), kept warm
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons canned tuna, drained
1 tablespoon hijiki

1. Place the hijiki in a small strainer and rinse. Place in bowl of warm water and soak for about 5 minutes. Strain and rinse again. Chop to the desired size.

2. Mix the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar together and then pour over the rice. Gently mix the rice and liquid together.

3. Add the tuna and hijiki to the rice, and mix.

4. Shape the rice balls.**

5. Place onto a lightly greased baking tray.

6. Pre-heat a barbecue grill or grill pan over high heat.

7. Carefully place each rice ball (large side down) on the the grill, and cook each side briefly, just long enough to lightly toast the surface.

8. Serve immediately, or allow them to cool completely and wrap each one in foil or saran wrap and put them into your bento.

**Shaping the rice balls: There are two ways that this can be done: by hand or by using a mold. I do it both ways, depending on my mood, and depending on the ingredients. Today I did it using a mold, as it gets a little messy doing it by hand with the soy sauce in the rice. There are wonderful instructions on both methods that can be found here (scroll down to see the instructions on shaping by hand).

**The recipe amounts are approximations. You can add more or less of any ingredient depending on who will be eating them. You can also add a variety of other ingredients depending on your mood!