Think it's just another trio of onigiri? Think again...there's an imposter among us! Click pic for more details.

Top:  2 sachets of green tea in the bowl of my Totoro bento (also doubles as the lid for the bento box)
Left:  plain rice and umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) in the base of the bento
Right:  BBQ unagi (freshwater eel), a sachet of nori strips, and additional condiments -- black sesame seeds, toasted white sesame seeds, wasabi, and pickled radish

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For today's bento, we have ochazuke with grilled BBQ eel, also known as unacha.  Ochazuke (also known as chazuke) is an ultra-simple Japanese comfort food (and hangover cure) made by pouring hot green tea over rice and toppings.  Common toppings used are any type of Japanese pickles (tsukemono), Japanese pickled plum (umeboshi), seaweed (nori), furikake, sesame seeds, mitsuba, wasabi, and sometimes roe, salted salmon, bonito flakes, mackerel, and eel (unagi).

I couldn't find a recipe for unacha, so I kind of made this one up based on some guidelines posted in I was just really very hungry.  To eat, I plan on scooping some rice into the bowl portion, adding some of the condiments, and then pouring some fresh-steeped green tea over the top.  Here's I'll try to post a picture of the Totoro bento bowl in action if I can remember to break out my camera before snarfing everything up...

Clockwise from upper left -- onigiri: (1) rolled in furikake; (2) mixed with sweet egg; (3) stuffed with bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce; (4) rolled in bonito-flavored furikake; (5) stuffed with an umeboshi; and (6) stuffed with a tuna/mayo mixture.

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What do you do when you have no food in your fridge other than a single egg? Make lots of onigiri! For two sets of 6 rice balls, I cooked about 3 cups of short-grain rice (I like Tamaki Gold). I used my small triangular mold to make the sweet egg onigiri (recipe here) and the onigiri rolled in furikake. I used my larger mold to make the stuffed ones. The molds came in very handy -- it would have taken me forever and a day to shape 12 onigiri by hand! Just remember to wet the mold between rice balls so that they will slide out more easily. Keeping your hands wet helps too -- just dry them off before handling the nori. Some great tips for making onigiri by hand here.

I must go to the grocery store!

Three flavors of onigiri (beef & ginger, sweet egg, and umeboshi), as well as simmered green beans, simmered enoki mushrooms, and a mini choux-a-la-creme pastry (non-GF).

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My first attempt at making mixed-rice onigiri today - I think they turned out well! I added nori "handles" to make them easier to eat. My favorite is the beef & ginger, followed by the egg, then the umeboshi (I'm still not accustomed to its taste yet). I wasn't that impressed with the green beans or mushrooms (neither was my hubs).

3 KINDS OF ONIGIRIIngredients* Rice (for 2 sets of 3 onigiri, I used 4 cups uncooked rice) Nori (optional) - Beef - Ginger to taste, grated (or julienned finely) 1 tbsp. tamari 1 tsp. each of sugar, mirin, sake 1 tbsp. water 2 oz. beef, sliced thin, then julienned - Egg - 1 small egg, beaten 2 tsp. sugar salt cooking oil - Umeboshi - 1 umeboshi

Steps Cook the rice. Combine all the ingredients for the beef onigiri except the beef. Bring to a boil in a small pan. Add the beef to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes and set aside. Combine all the egg ingredients except the oil. Heat a small amount of oil to the pan, then add the egg mixture. Scramble the egg, stirring rapidly, until the egg has separated into small, round pieces. Remove the seed from the umeboshi and shred it into small pieces. Divide the rice into 3 portions. Combine each portion with a different flavored mixture. Be sure to not add so much of the beef cooking juice that your rice gets soggy or slippery. Form the rice into flattened balls. I use an onigiri mold as it is faster, but you can shape by hand as well. Make sure to wet your hands or the molds between rice balls to keep the rice from sticking. Add a strip of nori to each if you like. *Use gluten-free products. © Cooking Cute