Onigiri

 

Ingredients

Cooked Japanese rice

Method 

Once you've cooked your rice, you need to mould it into the classic triangle shape. There's no easy way to do this with your hands, but obviously practice will help! The secret is to ensure that you have damp hands, so keep a dish of water handy to keep wetting them. Squash and shape a handful of rice until you get the right shape.
If you have a mould (and if you want to make onigiri regularly, this is practically essential!) then onigiri making is pretty easy - just get some still-warm rice, wet the mould, add a scoop of rice to it, and close the mould down. Make sure all of the mould is damp!

Now you've learned how to make your onigiri, here are some ideas for what to do with it:

Furikake: invest in some sachets of furikake, Japanese rice seasoning. It comes in a huge variety of different flavours from the natural (sesame seeds) to the artificial (sukiyaki flavour). I like to roll the edges of my onigiri in the furikake as above, but you can cover the entire onigiri with seasoning if you like. You can also mix the rice with the furikake to make the rice colourful. The furikake above is made with shiso, which turned the edges a lovely purple. Very tasty. You can buy furikake online from J-List or in the UK from suppliers in my links sections.

Umeboshi: mash 50g of umeboshi (preserved Japanese plum - keep it in the fridge, it lasts forever!) with 1/2 tsp of mirin, then mix in around 300g of cooked rice (less or more depending on how strong you want the umeboshi taste) until you get nice, reddish flecks of plum in your onigiri. Then shape as usual.

Scrambled egg: whisk one egg with 1/2 tsp soy sauce, then scramble in a pan with a little oil. Mix in with the rice as for the method for umeboshi, and shape as usual. Just be aware that the larger the lumps of egg and the more you use, the more likely it is that your onigiri will fall apart! You can also use the method below to stuff your onigiri with scrambled egg.

Salted salmon: take a piece of salmon fillet and sprinkle it with salt on both sides. Then set aside for half an hour, before grilling under a high heat until slightly browned. Then, break into chunks with a fork. (This is delicious as a snack too, if you eat it hot and juicy from the grill!) Add half of your rice to the onigiri mould and then make a hollow, to which you add the salmon. Cover with the rest of your rice and press the mould shut as usual.

Wasabi tuna: mix together some canned tuna with mayonnaise (Japanese is best, and Kewpie is the most commonly found variety), then add a small dab of wasabi paste. Mix well and taste to adjust seasonings, then stuff inside an onigiri as above.

Soy bonito: get a pinch of bonito flakes and add a dribble of soy sauce, enough to wet the mixture without making it sloppy, then add to the inside of the onigiri.

Sweet soy chicken: follow the recipe for simmered sweet soy chicken mince then use the leftovers to stuff the inside of the onigiri.

Japanese pickles: chop your favourite Japanese pickles into smallish chunks then use as an onigiri stuffing.