Onigiri balls and Sushi Rice Vinegar

Ingredients
(makes about 2-3 rice balls)
1 c short Brown Rice
3 c water
1⁄4 t Salt
8 Sheets sushi nori seaweed
Umeboshi paste

Place a cutting board or wax paper on the counter and wet your hands throughly. This is to keep the rice from sticking to your hands (although some grains will still stick) and to keep your hands cool from the hot rice. Then place nori on top of paper and several spoonfuls of rice in the center of each nori sheet. Scoop some rice with a spoon or scooper approx 1/3- 1/2 cup of rice for every rice ball
Make a deep crater in the rice ball, but don't puncture it to the point that your fingers slip to the other side! This is where your filling is going to go, so just deep enough to place things in. Insert your fillings into the hole. Make sure that you don't overfill it! Fold some rice over the hole/crater so that all fillings are hidden.

Tips:
Mix sesame seeds in with the rice before you form the rice balls. You can use regular sesame seeds (goma) or black sesame seeds (kurogoma).

Umeboshi either in the center or torn up and mixed into the rice.

Fresh ginger salad dressing mixed with rice!

Use commercial rice seasonings which typically contain some nori, sesame and some other flavors.

Use vinegar or salt on the rice for additional taste or make a solution of the two plus sugar and pour a little at a time onto the hot rice, cutting and folding it into the rice. Don't use too much of the solution as the purpose is to enhance the flavor of the rice -not overpower it. A solution of salt, rice vinegar and water folded into the rice will make the rice a bit stickier which can be beneficial if your rice balls tend to fall apart.

Dip your hands in salt water to prevent the rice from sticking to your hands as your form the rice balls.If you have difficulty sealing up rice balls with fillings, when you form the rice ball, form two halves with filling and put them together, using the salt water solution to help you to smooth and seal the seams.Try to get all the liquid out of a filling, because wet fillings makes your onigiri soggy, unappetizing, and falls apart.

Serve with a sauce made of soy sauce and some gari (pickled ginger) and wasabi.

Other fillings:
Sweet red bean paste (Anko) for a more desserty onigiri, however doesn't go well with nori
Grilled smoked Tofu
Steamed Carrot sticks
chopped up pickles (tsukemono)
pickled plum (umeboshi)
Ground veggie meat cooked with grated or chopped ginger, then flavored with soy sauce, some red pepper flakes, sake or mirin, and sugar. It should be quite dry. Curry flavored veggie ground meat mixture works surprisingly well too.
Tofu Wasabi Spread (really Thick)


Sushi vinegar mix (awase-zu)
If you can't get prepared sushi vinegar you can make it thus:
Mix 1/4 cup of rice vinegar or mild cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 tablespoon of mirin, sake or sweet brandy, and 1/2 tablespoon of salt. Heat over low heat in a small saucepan, and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. This is enough to flavor 4 cups of rice, so adjust the amount according to the amount of rice you have.