To make a rice boat, you will need 4 cups of rice, a zip lock bag, a rice cooker, a sink with a faucet, a plastic knife, 3 cups of clean water, a big mixing bowl, small pieces of some meat or vegetables, and some kind of seasoning.
I am beginning with preparing the rice. I suggest you cook the rice beforehand since cooking the rice takes a long time. First, pour 4 cups of rice into the mixing bowl and wash it thoroughly 4 times with some tap water. This is called “shi mi”. Once you finish washing the rice, add the rice to the rice cooker, and add 3 cups of clean water with it. Close the rice cooker, find the ON or I switch, wait till for the rice to be cooked. (the alarm should be a “ding” or a snapping sound.
Ok now, after your rice is cooked, put the amount of rice desired into the zip lock bag. The rice should feel warm and soft, ready to be eaten. Shape up your rice by pressing outside the bag so it looks more or less like an egg. Congratulations! You have finished ½ of the rice boat. Now, use your plastic knife to cut the rice boat in half either this way |, this way -, or from top to bottom. Either way is fine. Then place the meat or vegetables in between
the two pieces of rice. Shape up your rice again so that the two pieces of rice come together again so the rice boat comes back to its original shape or into a boat. You may now season it with sugar, salt, pepper, garlic, anything you would like. YAY you finished!
A shortcut that I learned is to insert your hand from the bottom of the bag up so the bag works like a glove. Scoop up a LITTLE bit of rice and pat it flatly on top of your zip lock glove till it is covered with rice. Add your bits of meat and vegetables on top of the mat of rice and then cover it up with another layer of rice. Carefully take off the zip lock bag so the bundle of rice falls to the bottom of the bag. Shape the rice to your desire, season it and you're done!
I suggest using the shortcut process since when you cut the rice during the main process; it kind of breaks the rice. It won't stick back together so it leaves this “fissure” between both sides, I don't know, it sometimes sticks back together. Most people would like the rice boat because they get to make it their own and add their own favorite ingredients. I usually put some powder and some seaweed.
The problems I had when I first made this was:
- I kept on breaking the rice boat
- I would drop the rice and the floor would be sticky
- Forgetting to put the 2nd layer of rice so it came out all weird
- Too much rice
- Too much ingredients
- Too much seasoning
- On the 2nd process I had trouble taking off the zip lock bag, my sister popped up out of nowhere, startled me saying “Watcha doin'?”, and all my hard work fell onto the floor
- Cut myself on the 1st process
Below is all the advice I have given to people who have never tried to make this before.
- I suggest going through the 1st then the 2nd
- Make sure the rice is warmed before trying out the shortcut since you have to somewhat hold the rice in your hand and rice get hot
- Be careful of adding too much ingredients into the rice boat
- Have an adult help if you are a child
- While cooking the rice you may also add some healthy rice into it
- Make sure your little sisters aren't in the room
- You can also shape up the rice while you're eating
