If Kilton existed in the real world, he would love the Halloween season. A holiday devoted to monsters would be right up his alley. Conversely, the Halloween season is the perfect time of year for some monster dishes!
Kilton’s monster extract can be used to spice up a number of common Hyrulean dishes. Simply adding this spice derived from monster essence to a dish adds a new and interesting flavor profile. One such dish is the monster rice ball. Flavoring Hylian Rice with Monster Extract adds an interesting flavor twist to the common Hyrulean rice ball.
"Rice balls flavored with monster extract. Their unique aroma is not for everyone."
This is a pretty simple monster dish to make. We will simply cook rice in purple cabbage water. This will add a mild cabbage flavor to the rice to get a little of that monster essence flavoring into the rice balls. The cabbage water will also dye the rice purple as it cooks. This recipe is for plain rice balls… they’re just purple. The cabbage imparts minimal flavor to them so they are really a blank canvas. You can fill the rice balls with anything you wish to enhance them. Even in their plain form, they’re a fun way to add a monster side dish to any meal.
Ingredients
2 cups Japanese rice
½ head of red cabbage
5 cups water
2 tsp salt
3-4 small sheets of nori (seaweed)
6-8 pickled plums, deseeded (optional)
Using a food processor with a shredding attachment, shred the half head of red cabbage. You can also use a knife and very thinly slice the half head to shred it by hand.
Once the cabbage is shredded, add it to a large enough pot over medium-high heat. Add 5 cups of water, ensuring the cabbage is completely submerged. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and stir. Bring the cabbage to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low or medium-low to maintain a simmer. Allow the cabbage to simmer for approximately 20 minutes. The water will turn a deep purple color as it simmers. Allow it to simmer until you get a deep enough purple color to the water.
Remove the pot from the heat, and set it aside to allow it to cool. Once the cabbage and water have cooled, strain the water into a bowl through a mesh strainer, separating the cabbage water and the cabbage. Discard the cabbage or reserve it for a different dish.
Make 2 cups of rice according to the instructions in the package, except use the purple cabbage water. Use the same amount of purple cabbage water as you would have used plain water to make the rice. You will likely not need to use all of the cabbage water. I used a rice cooker to make the rice, but you can also make the rice in a pot on the stovetop as well. The standard ratios for rice to water are 1 cup of water to 1 cup of rice for a rice cooker and 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice for stovetop. You can make 2 ½ to 3 cups of rice as well if you prefer, just use the appropriate amount of cabbage water.
Once your rice has finished cooking, you will notice the cooker rice has turned purple from the cabbage water. That’s all there is to it! Allow the rice to cook just a little bit and then pour your finished rice into a bowl and stir in one teaspoon of salt. You are now ready to assemble your rice balls! Make sure your hands stay wet through pretty much this entire process so you can mold the rice balls and keep the rice from sticking to your hands. Scoop 1/2 cup of rice into your hand and mold it into a ball.
If you are using the picked plums, press a deep divot into the rice ball with your thumb, insert the deseeded pickled plum, and then fold the rice back over the plum to close up the divot. Once the rice ball is reformed back into a ball, with the plum secured inside, we can shape it.
Now it’s time for the fun part. You want to mold the rice ball into a triangle with rounded corners. There are two ways to do this: by hand or by onigiri mold. To mold by hand, push the front and back to flatten it out, push the bottom against a cutting board and then push down on the sides at opposing angles. Lastly, push the front and back one more time to flatten more. This seems to do the trick for the most part. To use an onigiri mold, place the ball of rice into a ½ cup size onigiri mold, and then slowly press the lid firmly back into the mold. Press until you cannot press any further, and then remove the lid and gently pop out the rice ball.
If you are using the smaller snack sized nori sheets, cutting these in half will produce two seaweed strips of the perfect size. If you are using full sheets, cut them into strips that are roughly 1 inch wide by 2-3 inches long. Wrap the nori strips around the bottom of the rice balls and your rice balls are complete. Enjoy these simple rice balls as a side with most any meal.
Learn more about the Monster Rice Balls dish from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at Zelda Dungeon.