These little rice balls are made with sushi rice, but the rice is salted lightly, instead of seasoned with rice vinegar like in sushi. Sushi is meant to be aesthetically pleasing: it shows off the most delicate (usually expensive) pieces of seafood. Onigiri, however, uses leftovers and other ingredients you might have around, and hides them in the rice instead of showing them off.
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Above is a picture showing how to open pre-made onigiri from a konbini. If you open it correctly, it doesn't fall apart and it can easily be eaten.
If you want to make onigiri, not much planning is required. All you need is cooked sushi rice, salt, and a few other ingredients to fill your onigiri.
If you don't have a rice cooker, here's how to cook rice without one:
Put 1 ½ cups of sushi rice (sushi rice and rice used for onigiri are the same) in a bowl. Rinse the rice in water, then drain, and repeat this process a few times to fully clean the rice. Put the rice and two cups of water in a saucepan, then cover and cook on medium-low for about 15 minutes. Then, turn off the heat (keeping the saucepan covered) for 10 minutes to allow it to finish cooking fully.
You can leave the rice plain or mix seasonings or pieces of meat and vegetables into it. What I found common in Japan was putting a filling in the center of the rice ball.
If you choose to put filling in your onigiri, pick in ingredient with lots of flavor. That way, if you're eating it on the go, you'll be able to enjoy it thoroughly without having to use anything like a dipping sauce. If you put leftover fish or chicken inside the onigiri, a little bit goes a long way. If the filling seems plain or bland, mix it with a little soy sauce, lemon juice, mayonnaise, or hot sauce before putting it into the onigiri.
Other onigiri ingredients are tsukudani (a seasoned type of seaweed called kombu) and umeboshi (pickled plum) are also popular.
Put 1 ½ cups of sushi rice (sushi rice and rice used for onigiri are the same) in a bowl. Rinse the rice in water, then drain, and repeat this process a few times to fully clean the rice. Put the rice and two cups of water in a saucepan, then cover and cook on medium-low for about 15 minutes. Then, turn off the heat (keeping the saucepan covered) for 10 minutes to allow it to finish cooking fully.
You can leave the rice plain or mix seasonings or pieces of meat and vegetables into it. What I found common in Japan was putting a filling in the center of the rice ball.
If you choose to put filling in your onigiri, pick in ingredient with lots of flavor. That way, if you're eating it on the go, you'll be able to enjoy it thoroughly without having to use anything like a dipping sauce. If you put leftover fish or chicken inside the onigiri, a little bit goes a long way. If the filling seems plain or bland, mix it with a little soy sauce, lemon juice, mayonnaise, or hot sauce before putting it into the onigiri.
Other onigiri ingredients are tsukudani (a seasoned type of seaweed called kombu) and umeboshi (pickled plum) are also popular.
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We ate these in Japanese class once, basically the only food that we've had in there. It was so amazing! I didn't think I'd really like the seaweed, but it adds a good amount of flavor and texture.
ReplyDeleteI remember eating onigiri in Japanese class too! We also have it every few months in Japanese Club. They are delicious! Especially the tuna and mayonnaise ones.
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