Rice balls are a popular meal all across Hyrule. Vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, or meat can be stuffed within or wrapped around these balls of Hylian rice and eaten on the go. They make for fantastic meals while traveling across the kingdom or while enduring a hard day’s work.
The hearty salmon of Tabantha and Hebra can be used to make delicious seafood rice balls. The rice balls are stuffed with seasoned fried or roasted salmon and then topped with more flakes of salmon or salmon roe.
"Stuffed with aromatic seafood, the flavor can vary by ingredients but never disappoints."
We will take a very simple approach to make these rice balls. We will use salmon filets and oven roast then after simply seasoning them with salt and pepper. The salmon will be flaked and stuffed inside the rice balls. An optional side of Japanese style mayonnaise dip can accompany the rice balls as well. A simple and tasty treat, I would love a few of these while taking in the scenic Tabantha countryside.
The recipe for the mayonnaise dip can be found at the very bottom of the recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups Japanese short grain rice
1/2 lb salmon (1-2 salmon filets)
3-4 small sheets of nori (seaweed)
2 tbsp salmon roe
Salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
3 cups Japanese short grain rice
1/2 lb salmon (1-2 salmon filets)
3-4 small sheets of nori (seaweed)
2 tbsp salmon roe
Salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
First, make 3 cups of rice according to the instructions in the package. (I use a rice cooker on “Quick Cook” setting, open the lid when it is finished for about 5 minutes to let it dry a bit, and then fluff with a rice paddle.)
Brush the filets with olive oil on all sides, and season generously with salt and pepper. Cover a baking sheet with nonstick foil, and spray it with cooking spray. Space the salmon filets on the sheet, and place them in the oven on high broil for 8-10 minutes, until done.
Once the salmon is done, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool enough to be able to handle. Once it is cool enough, remove the skins from the filets, and then use a fork to completely flake each filet. Place the flaked salmon in a bowl.
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 ½ cup of rice into your hand and mold it into a ball. Push your thumb into the center and make a deep indentation. Add 2 tsp of the flaked salmon into the whole and push it in with your fingers. Now gently push the rice to close the hole (you can also add a little bit more rice over the hole to help close it).
Once it is all closed up 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.
Now to wrap the seaweed sheets around the bottom. 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.
Serve two rice balls on a plate, top one with a few pieces of flaked salmon and another with a small amount of salmon roe. Enjoy!
Optional Mayonnaise Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp hondashi
Combine the mayonnaise, rice vinegar, mustard, sugar, and hondashi in a bowl and whisk well to fully blend the ingredients together. Serve a dollop of the dipping sauce on the plate or in a small dipping bowl alongside the rice balls.
Learn more about the Seafood Rice Balls dish from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom at Zelda Dungeon.