Anime Recipes

Onigiri - Pokémon

So, for all of you who thought yesterday’s recipe was serious, joke’s on you (Happy 1st of April!).  And for those of you who aren’t quite in on the joke, when 4Kids was dubbing Pokémon, they though little children wouldn’t understand what some of the foreign strange foods were, so they changed it in the script.  Thus onigiri (a common food in the show) because everything from sandwiches to popcorn balls to, most commonly, jelly filled donuts.  And, honestly, as a child, I knew something was up.  Those weren’t no jelly filled donuts everyone was munching down on.  Anyway, onigiri itself is a staple food in Japan, simple, portable, and filling, making it perfect to take on long adventures to duel gym leaders and Team Rocket.  I hope you enjoy them almost as much a as a box full of donuts!

Ingredients

• Rice (However much you want to make.  I used 1 cup of uncooked rice for the onigiri in the picture above.  As always, follow this recipe to cook the rice.)
• Salt
• Optional:
• Nori - The thin, paper like seaweed used to wrap up sushi
• Furikake - Also known as rice seasoning, it’s normally just bonito flakes, some nori, maybe some sesame seeds, and flavoring)
• Peas
• Soy sauce
• Fillings - The most common filling for onigiri would probably be umeboshi, or sour pickled plums, however it is quite and acquired taste (my host mother laughed at the puckered face I made after eating my first one), so watch out.  Other common fillings are canned tuna (mixed with mayo and sometimes wasabi), cooked tuna or other fish, fried chicken, a little cooked spam, or just about any kind of pickled vegetable.

Directions

1. Once the rice is cooked and cooled down, all you have to do is shape them.  I have a difficult time with this, so what I’ve learned to do is use some plastic wrap.  Put a scoop of rice in the middle of the plastic wrap and wrap it up.  Onigiri Variation #1:  If you want to make pea onigiri, like in the picture above, or you want to mix in some furikake, you need to do this before you put the rice in the plastic wrap.  Just take your scoop of rice, put it in a bowl, and mix in your ingredients with a utensil.
2. Now, the shaping.  Hold the wrapped up rice in your hand.  Cup your hand so it looks like a “U”, and then cup your other hand, perpendicularly, on top of it tightly.  Gently squeeze the rice.  If you’re doing it correctly, it should start to look kind of like a triangle.  Then, rotate the rice ball in your hands, so a different point is pointing downward and repeat.  Onigiri Variation #2: If you want to add a filling, sometime near the end of forming the onigiri, press a dent in the middle of rice with your thumb.  Add your filling, and cover the hole with more rice, and continue forming.
3. Take the rice out of the plastic wrap and form it a few times with your bare hands.  Then place it on a plate, and sprinkle some salt on them.  Onigiri Variation #3: You can add nori to just about any type of onigiri.  You’ll need to cut up the nori to fit, but you can cut it into any shape you want, be it a larger sheet to cover the entire onigiri, a small little rectangle for just on the bottom, or some cute shapes.  Onigiri Varitation #4: In addition to the salt, you can sprinkle some sesame seeds or furikake on top, and press it into the rice.  Onigiri Variation #5: Finally, one of my favorite types of onigiri, yaki onigiri, or grilled onigiri.  Now, I don’t have the appropriate small grill to make these, so I make them in the oven.  Just heat your oven up to a low heat, brush some soy sauce onto one side of the onigiri, place it on a cookie sheet, and put it in the oven.  In 10-20 minutes, flip the onigiri over, and brush some more soy sauce onto the other side, and cook it again.  Just keep an eye on it, and cook it until it’s slightly crispy on both sides.

Rice Porridge (Okayu) - SKET Dance

So, I have been terribly sick this last week.  Coughing, runny nose, sneezing, an aversion to anything that involves getting up, the whole shebang.  So, one day when I was particularly hungry, I found the energy to make up some rice porridge.  In Japan, rice porridge is the equivalent of chicken noodle soup when you’re sick.  As such, if a person has just fallen sick with a cold or a fever in an anime or manga (SKET Dance included), chances are a friend will rush over and make them a pot of hot rice porridge.  So if you’re ever feeling like you might be getting sick, call up a friend and hand this recipe to them, or, if you’re feeling cooped up at home and hungry, make it for yourself!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white rice (preferably short grain, but medium is fine)
• Water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Optional ingredients: Eggs, chicken, onion, green onion, kimchee, umiboshi (sour plum), pork tenderloin, mushrooms, sesame seeds, soy sauce, sriracha, just about anything you want.

Directions:

1. Rinse the rice thoroughly in a pot, as per this recipe.
2. Once the rice is clean, add in 3 cups of water and the salt and let the rice soak for at least 30 minutes.
3. Bring the rice to a boil on medium-high heat, and then turn the down the heat to low and cook, covered by a lid, for 30 minutes.  After that, turn off the heat, and let the rice sit for 10 more minutes.
4. Pour/scoop into a bowl, and top with whatever you want!

For rice porridge a la SKET Dance: Once in the bowl, crack one egg and place on top of the rice porridge.  Steam the whole bowl until the egg is as cooked as you like it (I like the yoke really runny).  If you don’t have a bamboo steamer, but still want the egg on top cooked, you can pop it in the oven for a few minutes, but just be careful not to over cook it.

I like rice porridge with kimchee on it, but this time I added miso poached chicken with onions, sriracha, green onions and soy sauce.  Classic Japanese rice porridge just has a simple sour pickled plum in the middle.

Giga Pudding - That Annoying Commercial

Every since the giga puddi commercial started circulating the internet, I have wanted an excuse to try and make my own giga puddi (since it was always sold out online, and costs a bit to much for my tastes anyway).  So, since I was inviting everyone over for to try some hot pot, I figured “Why not treat them to some ridiculous, party-sized dessert, too?”  And, thus, this cheap giga puddi substitute was born.  And let me tell you, it is just as enjoyable and those office workers in the commercial make it seem.  I have the gif of my friends acting like idiots to prove it.

Oh man, was it fun.

Ingredients

• 3 boxes of Jell-o or Royal flan mix
• 3 quarts of milk
• Some sort of large bucket or pot which can hold over 3 quarts (I used a small crock pot tub)

Directions (Pretty much follow the directions on the box of flan mix, just extra carefully)

1. Empty the caramel sauce into your pot or bucket.
2. Pour the milk into a pot and mix it with 3 of the flan mix powder.  Set it on the stove on medium low heat, stirring frequently.
3. Once the milk/flam mixture on the stove start bubbling or reaches a thick consistency (almost like glue), pour it into the bucket over the caramel.
4. Let is sit in the fridge for about 3 hours.
5. Lay a large plate over the top of the bucket, then very carefully flip the bucket over, making sure to hold the plate firmly on top of the bucket.  You may want a friend to help you with this.  Hopefully, the pudding will just slide out onto the plate.  If not, you just need to whack the bucket a few times, and it should work.
6. Enjoy.

Stuffed Rolled Omelette - Mawaru Penguindrum

To be perfectly honest, I don’t really like eggs.  I never have.  However, Kanba’s and Shoma’s rolled omelettes in Mawaru Penguindrum just looked.  So.  Good.  And I’ll eat anything once.  I’ve tried making plain rolled omelettes before, and just as a warning, it’s tricky.  You need to make sure the egg cooks through, but at the same time, is still raw enough to all stick together.  Don’t forget Kanba’s super special technique of adding chili oil to the egg!

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Spinach, Chopped
• 1/3 Cup Grated Mozzarella
• 2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 Teaspoon Chili Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Maple Syrup
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar (Optional)
• 1/4 Teaspoon Dashi Powder (Optional)
• Vegetable or Olive Oil

Directions

1. Heat up a small pan (preferably with high sides) on low-medium heat.  Once the pan is hot, add about 2 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil.
2. Break the eggs into a small bowl, add the dashi powder, chili oil, sugar, and 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce, and beat the eggs with a fork.
3. When the oil in the pan is hot, pour half of the egg mixture into the pan.  Swirl/Spread the egg around the pan so that it fills the bottom, and  then sprinkle half of the spinach and mozzarella over the egg.
4. Let the under side of the egg slowly cook.  Then, using a spatula (or even two spatulas), lift up a 1 inch portion of the egg and fold it over the top.  Let the egg cook a little bit, and then repeat folding the egg, until it’s all rolled up.
5. Push the rolled omelette back to the other side of the pan, and pour the rest of the egg in.  Sprinkle the last of the spinach and cheese onto the egg, and repeat step 4 using the already rolled egg as the inside.
6. Let the rolled omelette slowly cook in the pan until the wider sides are nice and browned.
7. Take the omelette out, and slice it into half inch slices.  Mix together the maple syrup and the last of the soy sauce, and pour on top of the rolled omelette.