OMG Onigiri!

Onigiri! The cutest food? Probably. 

In all my years of watching Anime and attempting Japanese cuisine, I've never tried making rice balls. WHAT GIVES? They're super easy and very tasty! And the rice makes for a basic meal when you're experiencing tummy issues. Just Hungry has a great method for making onigiri, so I would start there. 

We used leftover salmon, tuna with Kewpie mayo, and minced umeboshi for fillings, with sesame seeds and nori for toppings. Put a dab of the filling on top of the ball when you're done; it'll show you what's inside and it's super kawaii. 

Chiapalin Donburri

I've been watching anime, and getting ideas for food. Again. This time from Shokugeki No Soma, which follows the protagonist, Soma, as he attends the most elite culinary school in Japan. The anime, and manga, are quite redonk. As usual, they cook something up that I'd want to eat. 

The dish that really got me hungry was Chiapalin Steak Don, which is steak with onion gravy over rice that's been laced with pickled plums (umeboshi). 

Here's the recipe I used, I stuck to it pretty closely. In the show the meat is so tender the characters pull off pieces with their chopsticks. I wasn't able to get that, despite scoring and pounding my steaks. You could sub in Cube Steak if you want to skip a step, but I would use either a fattier cut or score it more severely to get it "chopstick tender." 

The umeboshi are very salty, but once they're mixed into the rice, it mellows out perfectly, so you don't want to salt the rice separately. 

Dons (rice bowls) are a lot of fun, and they're cheap and filling. This one was really good, and I'd probably make it again.