Running Food

Tired of packing snickers bars and other sugary snacks on long runs, I tried out a recipe from Scott Jurek’s book Eat and Run where I  came across his recipe for making Onigiri (rice balls).   Easy to make and convenient enough to pack on a long run, it’s a type of food that can provide more long term energy than processed chocolate bars.   The recipe is simple and a fun way to spend a relaxing hour in the kitchen on a hot Arizona afternoon.

Scott’s recipe calls for sushi rice, nori seaweed, and miso, but I substituted the miso with Korean soybean paste because it’s a bit spicier.  Anyway, here’s how to do it:

1. Take 2 cups of rice and wash out the starch.   

2. boil 4 cups of water with the rice.

3. After water boils off, leave the rice to cool. 

4. Prepare a small bowl of water to remove sticky rice from hands when forming Onigiri.

5. Prepare nori seaweed by carefully cutting sheets in half.

6. Form ¼ cup triangle shaped rice formations.  Make it flat and make sure rice sticks well together.

7. Put a small dab of miso(or soybean paste) on rice.

8. Cover the triangle of rice and paste with a second triangle half.

9. Take sheet of seaweed and completely cover the rice.

10. Cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge to cool.  Makes 8-10 onigiri.