Sesame & Almond brown rice balls with avocado

This recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, 101 Cookbooks. I've never made a recipe I didn't like from Heidi's site (and I've made my fair share of them). I admit, I changed it a bit (I just can't help myself). I really love rice vinegar on rice, with that delicious, sushi flavour, so I added it to the mix. These are a great lunch or picnic finger food, and keep well in the fridge overnight, if you want to make them ahead of time. You can also serve them with some soy sauce for dipping.


sesame almond brown rice balls
makes about 15 small rice balls, originally from this recipe.


2 cups short grain brown rice
3 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds (black or white)
3 tbsp toasted chopped almonds
1 or 2 green onions, minced
1 avocado, in small chunks (1 inch dice)

Rinse the rice. Using a heavy bottomed pot, bring rice, water and salt to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 40-50 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Alternately, cook rice in a rice cooker.

While rice is cooking, toast sesame seeds, then almonds. Mince green onions, and prepare avocado in small, 1 inch chunks.




When the rice is done, fluff with a fork, and stir in rice vinegar. Let the rice cool, then add almonds, most of the sesame seeds, and the green onion. Take a small bowl, and line it with plastic wrap, so you have quite a bit overhanging the sides. Fill the bowl with a handfull of rice (about 1/3 cup). Make an indent in the middle, and poke in a piece of avocado. Gather up the plastic wrap, and twist, lifting the rice out of the bowl, and shaping it into a ball. Remove the plastic wrap (you can reuse it for the rest of the balls), and put on a plate. Sprinkle the finished rice balls with the leftover sesame seeds.