Inspiration: Within the book What You Are Looking For Is In The Library, there’s a minor subplot woven into the story featuring rice balls. Due to the shaping required to produce onigiri and the possibility of adding filling, I’d always found this dish an intimidating undertaking. Yet, in the story, this staple seemed relatively easy to make.

Then we hit a week plus of mid-to-high eighty-degree days which always scrambling around for foods that require minimal heat to produce. Since rice has become a comfort food and rice balls can be eaten cold, I decided to try my hand at making them*. Looking about the internet, I discovered this excellent website that provides a base onigiri recipe, as well as three variants.

Deciding to stick with the basics on my first rodeo, I purchased the required sushi rice. Following the directions on the package, I cooked up my first batch. Now, after reading the website’s instructions and watching a number of YouTube videos on how to shape the rice into a triangle by hand (which frankly looked like magic to my untrained eye), I pulled out my far less fancy muffin scoop and set to work. 

What I failed to recall was that I had purchased an antique Chinese rice mold at an estate sale a year or so prior. Maybe I’ll use it if I ever make these when company comes over.

In any case, after stirring three tablespoons of ponzu and four tablespoons of yuzu furikaki into the steaming rice, I started scooping and, voila, in less than two minutes I’d two dozen riceballs! And they were just as easy to make as the characters in What You Are Looking For Is In The Library said they were! Even better? They taste great cold!

*(I’m not calling what I made onigiri because mine aren’t in the traditional triangle shape or wrapped in nori. Nor would I call the rice shaped in the aforementioned mold onigiri either, just to be clear.)

Agatha Christie’s Canon of Characters: I can easily see Colonel Race making and enjoying these during his bachelor days. Rice balls are easy to make, last for a while, and, if they don’t contain a fin based filling, are something that can be stuffed in a jacket pocket and eaten on the go. Which, if you’re caught up in an unplanned stakeout or suddenly break the case — having a bit of nutrition to keep your brain cells functioning at their peak is important!

My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2025