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Baby Chick Onigiri with Wasabi Edamame Fillings

The cutest Onigiri, aka rice balls for your next lunch box, bento box, picnic, kids party, or anytime you need that extra boost of happiness from your meals! These baby chick onigiri are easy to make and filled with a super flavorful and nutritious edamame mixture that has just a little bit of an energizing kick.
Isn't it just the best feeling when you sit down for your meal and you just feel this ear-to-ear smile beaming on your face that you can't even help? I love making food that will give people, myself included, that exact feeling. And these baby chick onigiri would definitely be one of them!
The beaks are made of sweet corns which also go so well with the rice balls. And the fillings was actually inspired by one of my favorite snacks, roasted wasabi edamame! Wasabi adds such a nice little kick that's so refreshing and unique. 
But of course, this is a highly adaptable recipe, you can make the fillings anything you want! My other go-to filling is a chickpea "chuna" mash that I used in this recent jumeokbap recipe. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup short grain white rice
1 2 inch x 4 inch piece of kombu
2 teaspoon sushi vinegar

For the filling -
8 oz edamame
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped yellow squash
1 scallion
2 teaspoon soy sauce, or tamari sauce for GF
1 teaspoon wasabi

For garnish -
Sweet corn kernels
Nori sheet

TO MAKE:

- Wash your rice until the water runs clear, add fresh water to the indicated line of your rice cooker, or, if you're using a pot, add water with a roughly 1:1 ratio:
- Add the kombu to rice, and start cooking;
- Steam the edamame for 10 minutes and finely chop all the other veggies you want to use;
- In a big bowl, mash the steamed edamame with a fork or a masher, mix in other chopped veggies, soy sauce, and wasabi, make sure you break down the wasabi and mix it in evenly! Getting a big chunk of wasabi accidentally could be... very wakening hahha;
- Once the rice is cooked, remove the kombu (you can just eat it, it's delicious!), and season with the sushi rice, using a slicing motion to mix in the vinegar so you don't squish the grains too much;
- Take a small handful of rice and press firmly into your palms, wet your hands first to prevent sticking;
- Poke a dent in the middle, add in about 2 teaspoon of fillings, this depends on how big you want to make your onigiri and how much filling you prefer to have in each one;
- Add a little more rice to cover the fillings and then enclose the rice ball, press firmly between your palms and shape it into a ball;
- Repeat to finish the rest of the rice and filling;
- Add a small drop of mayo onto the rice ball, use that as a "glue" to hold two corn kernels as the beak, add thin strips of nori as eyes;
- Serve warm or chilled, enjoy!

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