This Rice Ball Mold Makes Packing Lunch Cuter (Not Harder) | Bon Appétit

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It seems everyone’s got a favorite rice dish, from fragrant biryani to crackly tahdig to cheesy arancini, which is why it’s one of my go-tos. Especially for school lunches. These can be tricky—you need foods that’ll hold well for a few hours, not make a big mess, are quick to put together in the morning rush, and are easy to eat. This nifty tool, however, makes adorable rice balls that can do all of the above.

2 Piece Rice Ball Mold with Spatula

Amazon

Rice balls are commonly found in Korean and Japanese cuisines. Inspired by the videos on my TikTok feed of Asian parents and their picturesque, finger-food-friendly kids’ lunches, I started adding molded rice balls to my daughter Elara’s lunch. I’d seen triangle-shaped onigiri and even rice shaped into little teddy bear heads and hearts in lunchboxes on social media. Then I spotted the rice ball mold, which seemed to make bite-size balls and doable enough for a busy school-day morning. Just fill it with your choice of rice, white, sticky, or brown, and give it a shake.

A few beginner tips to using rice ball molds: You want to use warm rice to make rice balls, so if you’re starting with leftover rice, warm it up first. Also, be sure to wet the inside of the mold with a little water to prevent the rice from clinging to it. Sticky rice tends to hold the best, especially if you have a kid who likes to shake their lunch box into oblivion.

Now let’s talk about add-ins: You can add spices and seasonings like furikake, a Japanese blend often made of seaweed, sesame seeds, and bonito flakes, to the rice before shaking. Elara loves avocado rice balls, in which I mash some avocado until it’s slightly chunky and mix it with some sticky rice before molding. You can add finely chopped veggies, grated hard-boiled eggs, tofu, pickled vegetables, canned tuna, and so much more to make them flavorful and personalized. I’ve even repurposed day-old curry by mixing it into basmati rice and shaking away. You can really pack a lot into these tiny rice balls, so get creative with it and take advantage of what you have around.

And if your kids are into packing their own lunch, it’s simple enough for them to do it themselves, while you take a sip of your morning coffee.