BENTO ON THE GO : THE CONVENIENT RICE BURGER

If you go to Japan, you will encounter a fast food chain called MOS Burger. Their speciality is something called a MOS rice burger - a warm sandwich made of two pressed rice patties with fillings. They are a tasty alternative to a regular bun burger, especially if you are gluten-intolerant. Plus you can put a whole more more filling in between the patties than in an onigiri.

We heard from a friend, saying he knows a couple who had to relocate to the Middle East for work. The husband loves rice burgers. And so whenever they have the chance to travel to Asia, they will buy more about 2 dozen rice burgers and freeze it back home. Hmm, that is mind boggling and head scratching for us because there is nothing easier than making rice burgers! In fact, making bread is tougher than making rice patties.

Making rice burger patties is the same as making onigiri. The rice should be Japanese-style medium grain rice or similar, the same as you would use to make onigiri (rice balls), or it will not stick together properly; long-grains rices like jasmine rice, basmati rice, Uncle Ben’s Carolina Rice, etc. will not work without a binding agent. In other words, just think of the burger patties as flat onigiri.

You will need the same things as making onigiri or maki. Flavour the rice as you would make onigiri. The easiest way is to buy one of those moulds from your trusty budget Japanese store. You can add some more flavour to your patties or not. We like to grill it slightly with brushes of soy sauce on both sides.