Cauli-Rice Onigiri

First, I will freely admit a good deal of my technique is inspired by Just Bento/Just Hungry's onigiri tutorial. Feel free to head over there for some great recipes, ideas and another angle on how to make this treat. Her's are decidedly NOT low carb! I took pictures of my process and explained how I did it because there are some differences, but the basics are the same.



You will need:
Hardware:
Bowl to hold your cauliflower
Grater or food processor
Plastic wrap
A cup or small container that holds aproximately 1 cup
spoon

Software:
1 bag of frozen cauliflower, or one head of cauliflower, cut up (will produce about 2.5 cups of cauli-rice)
2-3 tbs of cream cheese
Sea Salt
Bacon bits, or some other filling.

Before we begin: cook your cauliflower. I have discovered it is easier to process cooked. I normally take my cauliflower and microwave it for 5 minutes for fresh or 7 minutes for frozen. For this process I did it the night before.


Grate your cauliflower on the largest holes of your grater, or process in a food processor until slightly larger than rice grains.



When you are done, it will look like this. If you are using leftover/cold cauliflower, I usually microwave it for 2-3 minutes to warm it up. If it's freshly cooked, you can skip this step and move to the next one.


Add 2-3 tablespoons of cream cheese and stir a bit, then microwave for another 30 seconds to soften the cream cheese. Once it comes out of the microwave, stir until combined. You might need to add a bit more cream cheese depending on how much cauli-rice you have.



Once your cauli-rice sticks together well, and can be squished into the spoon and stay, you are ready to make onigiri!



First, place a piece of plastic wrap in your container. Make sure it's large enough to go over the sides. You will need to be able to wrap your balls completely in the wrap.



Second, lightly fill the cup 3/4 of the way full, making sure not to pack it heavily.



Third, using your finger, chopstick or small spoon, make an indentation in the middle of the cauli-rice and fill with your filling. I used bacon bits, YUM!



Next, place another spoonful of cauli-rice on top, and pat down.



Finally, gather up the plastic over the ball, and twist.

After this step, if you want to shape it, I strongly recommend putting it in the fridge for at least 10 minutes to let the cream cheese resolidify. You can then shape it into the traditional triangle, or square, or even some other cute shape.

I keep these wrapped in plastic in the fridge for 3-4 days, but they rarely last that long.


Here is the finished product, with some fresh cracked pepper on top in today's bento.

If you want to see more low carb bento boxes, feel free to visit my other blog Low Carb Bento.