Here we are at AMASIA, at the end of service, making some snacks to eat -- yaki onigiri, one of my favorite things. My mom would make these for after school snacks growing up. Back in the day, before automatic rice cookers, rice was made in the pot on the stove. Often times, the bottom of the rice pot would have crispy rice; this was my favorite part and that is why I like yaki onigiri so much.
You can make them plain, flavor them with salt, soy or miso. Sometimes katsuobushi was added to the rice and a tare brushed onto the rice while cooking on the grill. I found that you can make these riceballs and use the pancake griddle; it works just as well getting them crispy. You can stuff them with anything you like; some of these were stuffed with poke. You can top them with anything, like a sauce, glaze or pickles. Sometimes it's great with hot tea poured over the top of the crispy balls -- very soothing late at nite.
~AW