how to make Doraemon onigiri

I was pleasantly surprised that I got such reactions on Doraemon onigiri. I really didn’t think anyone would know who it was. But I was wrong! It made me want to spread love for Doraemon, so I decided to do a how-to.

When I made it for my boyfriend, I didn’t really prepare anything for it, and as I was making it, I realized that a couple minutes of preparation would’ve saved me a lot of trouble. Also, cutting seaweed for the face and putting it on weren’t as easy as I thought it would be… So I came up with a foolproof method to make this Doraemon rice ball. This way, you don’t need to deal with sticky rice getting all over your hands, or worry about ripping seaweed!

[How to make Doraemon onigiri (rice ball)]
– rice
– salt
– seaweed
– kamaboko (fish cake) or cheese
– carrot

1. On a piece of paper, draw a Doraemon head. (I used a glass to draw it)

2. Cut the inside part of face out. The paper shown is 5 x 5, and it makes a big-ish rice ball.

3. Put #2 on seaweed (cut to the same size as the paper), and cut the face part out.

4. Spread *warm rice about the same size as the seaweed, sprinkle salt over rice, and put the seaweed on the rice. (*The rice must be warm, otherwise the seaweed will rip. If it’s not warm, microwave it)

5. Put a plastic sheet over it.

6. Flip it, and take off the plastic sheet from the rice side, sprinkle salt over the rice, and slowly make it into a ball.

7. Put a little bit of rice in the center of the rice ball.

8. Put whatever you want to put inside the rice ball in the middle (I used tarako/cod roe for mine) and put a little bit of rice over it. I found it easier to do this with the rice ball in a small bowl, so you don’t have to hold the rice ball in one hand and put stuff in on the other hand.

9. Just keep making it into a ball and twist the ends of the plastic sheet.

10. Slice a thin layer of kamaboko (fish cake) or cheese and cut it out for eyes. I have an oval shaped cutter, but I think you can just use a round one.

11. Slice a carrot, and use a straw or a small bottle cap to cut out his nose.

12. Cut seaweed for his whiskers, the line below his nose, and mouth. Cut seaweed using a hole puncher for his eyes.

Sad face

Smiley face

13. Slowly put the plastic sheet you used over the face. Make sure the plastic won’t shift the face parts.

14. Twist the back of the rice ball, and tape it or tie it with a rubber band.

Like I wrote in the beginning, this rice ball is pretty big. You can either shrink the paper size or use less rice and pull the seaweed all the way back so they touches each other in the back at #9. The best thing about this rice ball is that you can just carry it as is and it will still look adorable. When the weather gets warmer and nicer, make bunch of small ones and take them to a picnic!

How to make Doraemon onigiri

For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.
If you have any questions about any of my how-to’s, please feel free to leave a comment or email me!