1 cup cooked white rice - use sushi rice or Calrose rice so it will stay sticky when you form a ball (but don't buy rice labeled "sticky rice" - that's a different type.)

Filling options of your choice. Here are a few ideas:

·  Ground beef or pork, stir-fried with garlic powder

·  Korean kimchee

·  Olives, minced

·  Pickled veggies

·  Roasted chicken with BBQ sauce

·  Roasted veggies

·  Sausage, or even hot dogs (or veggie dogs)

·  Smoked or herbed tofu

·  Smoked salmon

·  SPAM (sorry, I had to! I have a lot of family in Hawaii, and grilled “SPAM musubi” with rice and seaweed are a common potluck item. I actually think SPAM is pretty gross.)

·  Spinach, stir-fried with some sesame oil and chili powder

·  Tuna with mayo or hot sauce

The basics of making a rice ball are simple. Take a scoop of rice into your hand, and form it into a ball. Press your thumb into the ball to make a dent in the center. Add whatever goodies you like, and put another scoop of rice on top. Form the rice into a ball. Actually, in Asia it’s more like a triangle shape, perhaps because easier to bite that way. If the rice sticks to your hands, rinse your hands in water.

You can also use a piece of plastic wrap to assemble and shape the rice ball. Plus, you’ll be packing it anyway, so once you’re done shaping the ball, it’s already packed! 

Rice balls are sold throughout Japan, Korea, and China. Traditional fillings include salmon, pickled plum, or seaweed.

Wrap your rice balls in plastic wrap, grab a couple soy sauce packets from the sushi deli at your local grocery store, and you’re in business. When it’s time to eat, do rice balls the way you do burritos: unwrap a little portion, take a few chomps, then unwrap a little more. This keeps the rice ball together, and free from less-than-clean hiking hands!  

Optional Seaweed Wrap, Sauces, and Sprinkles

Traditionally rice balls are wrapped in seaweed. However, just minutes after wrapping a rice ball, the seaweed will start to become soggy and chewy. In Japan, the ubiquitous rice balls sold at stores have a special internal wrapper to keep the seaweed separate from the rice until you open it, like some sort of modern edible origami. But for a less high-tech lunch, you can bring a pack of seaweed snacks separately, such as Annie Chun’s Sesame Roasted Seaweed Snacks, and assemble it on the trail.

Alternatively, season rice balls with a drizzle of soy sauce, gochuchang (Korean hot sauce), or teriyaki sauce. Or sprinkle black sesame seeds, toasted sesame seeds, or seasoned seaweed sprinkles.

Seaweed sprinkles, or furikake in Japanese, come in all sorts of flavors to make rice interesting: from veggie sprinkles, to egg, to salmon, to teriyaki. Sometimes called the “salt and pepper of Japan,” furikake adds a dash of flavor to any meat, tofu, or starch (try it on popcorn!). Plus, seaweed is packed with nutrients. It has more calcium than broccoli and almost as much protein as beans.

Western Version: The Lunch Meat Logs

Lunch meat is another accompaniment that pairs surprisingly well with rice. Lay a piece of lunchmeat flat, and form a log of rice on one end. Add in anything you so desire, such as long, thin slices of cucumber or carrot, and roll the sucker up. To pack, place the logs side by side and wrap them in plastic wrap.

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Check out my e-book Easy Hiking Recipes: Simple Meal Ideas for Day Hikes and Other Outdoor Adventures here! http://amzn.to/1aTSpaO.

Learn more at www.easyhikingrecipes.com.