Name: Teriyaki Bacon Rice Balls
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 cups newly cooked Japanese rice; 1 tablespoon rice vinegar; 8 rashers belly bacon; ¼ cup soy sauce; ¼ cup mirin; ¼ cup sake

Teriyaki Bacon Rice Balls

Connie Veneracion

Sushi rice wrapped in belly bacon, brushed with teriyaki sauce, broiled and garnished with toasted sesame seeds.

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Course Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine Japanese

Servings rice balls

Ingredients

2 cups newly cooked Japanese rice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
8 rashers belly bacon

For the teriyaki sauce

¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup mirin
¼ cup sake

Instructions

Spread the hot rice on a tray, drizzle in the rice vinegar and stir gently until cool.
Form the seasoned rice into eight balls.
Preheat the broiler (top heat of the oven) to 400F.
Wrap each rice ball with a bacon rasher.
Arrange the bacon wrapped rice balls in a tray lined with non-stick paper or a silicone mat, and broil for about 20 to 25 minutes until the edges of the bacon are lightly browned.
While the rice balls are in the oven, boil together all the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce until reduced in half.
Take the rice balls out of the oven and brush generously with teriyaki sauce. Do this three or more times to allow the bacon to absorb the sauce.
Put the rice balls back in the broiler and cook for another five minutes or so or until the teriyaki sauce caramelizes.
Optionally, sprinkle the teriyaki bacon rice balls with toasted sesame seeds before serving.

Notes

Inspired by one of the most stunning street food I have ever encountered, we discovered rows of meat wrapped rice balls that came in different flavors — plain, ginger, kimchi, with cheese, with green onion mayonnaise or with seasoned cod roe mayonnaise — on the day we went to Fushimi Inari.

Fushimi Inari street food: meat wrapped rice balls

My daughter, Alex, made this home version with bacon. They’re smaller than the ones at Fushimi Inari so you can enjoy more than one without feeling bloated.

Looking for Filipino food?Visit CASA Veneracion for modern twists on favorite classics!

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