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Onigiri - Easy Japanese Rice Balls

24/1/2014

 
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(Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Yeast Free, Vegan option)

Apologies to all my Japanese friends - please do not read this post.  My Japanese friends make perfectly beautiful onigiri (rice ball) with all the extra traditional ingredients.  Nothing beats a truly Japanese onigiri. The ones I make have three ingredients and are never quite perfectly shaped, most importantly my kids love them!

The basic concept is rice and something else smooshed together in a triangle or small shape.  Then wrap in plain nori seaweed to keep it all together.  

There are lots of other details if you want to get complicated - feel free to google things you can add to the rice, or how you can make a 'surprise' in the middle of the rice ball - but I like to keep it simple!

Next time you have rice for dinner, make a bit extra.
After dinner, put the extra rice in a bowl, and mix in whatever you have - I like using salmon, but you can use shredded chicken or bits of sesame and seaweed or anything you think will taste good.
Mix with a fork
Mash into molds
Take out of molds and store in a covered container in the fridge overnight

Another way of doing it is put the rice in the triangle molds, then use your finger and dig a hole in the middle, then add the salmon, then cover with more rice, then smoosh down - this makes for a 'surprise' in the middle.  My friend did this with feta cheese and her kids loved it, so really be experimental and try it with whatever you have!

They are great for breakfast, lunch boxes, school snacks, plane trips, picnics, and more.

Normally, you would keep the seaweed separate until right before eating.  But my kids prefer me to wrap it for them - it then gets 'soggy' but they say they like it as it holds everything together better.

Look at the photos for different mold shapes and how I make them.

Ingredients
  • Cooked rice (Japanese, white, brown, jasmine, basmati, all work, a bit wet helps)
  • Cooked salmon (see my recipes here) or other filling (can be vegan!)
  • Plain nori seaweed wrappers

Directions
  • Mix the still slightly warm rice in a bowl with your filling - we like salmon
  • Slightly overfill the mold
  • Press down really really hard! You want to mash it all together so it keeps the right shape
  • Take the top off and use the little flap at the bottom to help push the onigiri out
  • Once you have a plate full, either put in fridge, or wrap in seaweed and eat right away

All of the materials shown in the photos below are easily found at Japan Home Store or the Jusco 12 HKD Living Plaza shops located around Hong Kong.

If you can't get the molds, you can use a cup or mug line with plastic wrap it will work the same way.  

Happy onigiri making - do share below how you get on and what interesting filings you try!

Jacqueline (aka LantauMama)
27/1/2014 02:50:09 am

I received this comment on Facebook, and asked for permission to share it here. It is from a Japanese-Australian mama who lives in Hong Kong.

"They look & sounds perfect to me Jacqueline. Anything goes really I've put cheese & even olives in mine! (Ital-nigiri :D) I always preferred 'soggy nori' as my mum always did it that way.

I think my non-traditional (con)fused Japanese food stems from my parents emigrating to Australia few decades ago & not having easy access to many Japanese ingredients back then Also hanging out with my father's Italian colleagues we had been given home-made olives, dried tomatoes, cheeses etc Why if you wrap cheese-nigiri in vine leaves not sure how 'Japanese' it would be now

Another idea is if your kids aren't averse to greens, you can chop up boiled & well drained spinach (possibly puréed) to rice & make green onigiri. Also make very fine we'll seasoned scramble egg & mix with rice for yellow onigiri! Red one, common Japanese way is use chopped or dried 'Shiso' (Perilla leaves)

Possibilities are endless as your imagination & appetite"

Jacqueline (aka LantauMama)
27/1/2014 02:51:11 am

My Japanese friends are more traditional and do the little fish, the little shrimp, the sesame seeds, bits of seaweed, etc... I always feel like such a cheat when I make mine like this! But they are so easy, and truly a perfect food for my kids.

In terms of rice, I have used just about everything, and find as long as it is a bit wet, it works - totally dry fluffy rice is out for sure.

In Japan, we buy them, and the kids have one a day as 'second breakfast' before skiing, and sometimes one after skiing too.

An italian one with a bit of tomatoes, olives, cheese, basil sounds super yummy!

Lara
29/1/2014 12:20:42 am

Thanks so much for your fab blog. Bought the moulds the day after your post - made them for the kids' lunchboxes with an avocado 'surprise' in the middle - they were a huge hit. Please keep the ideas coming - I am one of your (probably many) silent readers who rarely posts, but thought this one was so great it was worthy of some well deserved feedback!

Jacqueline (aka LantauMama)
2/2/2014 02:11:20 am

Hi Lara,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read LantauMama, and for the great feedback. I LOVE the avocado in the middle idea - yummmm!!
Jacqueline

Fiona
9/2/2014 05:35:34 pm

Hi Jacqueline,
I've tried to make sushis/ onigiris for my kids. I use the rice cooker to make the rice and always ended up making too many sushis in one go and have to keep some in the fridge.
I read in your post you recommended keeping the onigiri in the fridge too. However, do you find the rice become hardened/ dry after it's been kept in the fridge overnight? If not, please advise as mine do and as a result I can't give to kids as packed lunches, as there's so little time for preparation early in the morning therefore have to prepare the night before. Cheeres!

Jacqueline (aka LantauMama)
9/2/2014 11:14:18 pm

Hi Fiona - thanks so much for your question. While I don't have an absolute answer, here are some thoughts.
We use a rice maker too, but we do make the rice a bit on the wet side (if too dry, can always add some water when making the onigiri).
They do get a bit drier and harder in the fridge, but definitely not in a way that makes them too hard to eat. Also, we don't eat them right out of the fridge, but when they warm up a bit - which might help too.
I wrap them well before putting them in the fridge, and they also have their (now soggy) seaweed wrap.
Sushi are much smaller than onigiri, maybe they dry out faster?
Many of my Japanese super mom friends make them in the morning - but that does not happen in my house!!
Let me know how it goes and what works for you.
Jacqueline


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