When you think about homemade food in Japan, I’m sure that onigiri (おにぎり) will come to your mind. Although it is not as internationally famous as sushi (寿司), it is one of the most basic Japanese cuisine dishes.
There are many onigiri styles; from the simple rice ball shapes to creative ones.
From onigiri you can buy in supermarkets to those you make at home, there is no doubt that it is a quick, practical and cheap dish for your home’s economy. And above all, it is delicious!
For those who wonder what onigiris are, here is the answer! Onigiri is a steamed Japanese white rice ball stuffed with some food. Moreover, you can cover totally or partially with a seaweed piece called nori (海苔) if you wish.
For a step-by-step guide on how to make onigiri at home, here’s the homemade onigiri recipe that several of our grandmothers shared with my family over the ten years we lived in Japan.
What Ingredients Do I Need to Make Onigiri?
- Steamed Japanese white rice.
- A bowl of cold water.
- Salt (you will need a pinch for each).
- Stuffing (it can be tuna salad with mayonnaise, canned sockeye salmon, umeboshi (salted Japanese apricot) or whatever you have in your home).
- Nori (Japanese seaweed).
If you have a rice cooker, it is easier! Rice Nori seaweed Tuna Mayo
How to Prepare an Onigiri
First, once you cook the Japanese rice in the rice cooker, open the lid to let it breathe and cool it enough to be handled with your hands. It is better to have salt, a bowl of cold water, and the filling nearby.
Take rice from the rice cooker
My ingredients prepared and set aside to make onigiri
Secondly, wet your hands with cold water and add a pinch of salt in the palm of one hand. Rub your hands together until the salt dissolves and take a fist-size portion of rice, spreading it over your hand. This trick is simple, but it’s a special touch to give onigiri this homemade flavour.
Add salt in one of your palms with your hands wet Add some rice in one of your palms and extend it
After that, add a teaspoon of the filling in the rice centre and carefully turn it into a ball. Once you see that the filling is not overflowing, continue to squeeze the rice ball with both hands to make a compact shape free of any loose grain.
You can also make onigiris by mixing the rice with canned food such as sockeye salmon, wakame (わかめ – a meatier type of seaweed) or umeboshi (梅干し), before shaping it.
Adding the filling Making the shape Pressing carefully the rice
Once you’re done, wrap them with the nori seaweed. I recommend using soy flavoured seaweed from Kumamoto Prefecture (熊本県), as the taste and smell of this seaweed are not so strong and is crunchy and delicious. There are two ways to wrap the onigiris: you can cover them wholly or partially, either to the centre or just the base.
How to Wrap a Rice Ball
The way you wrap onigiri depends on the way you want to eat it. Some like to have stick nori to the rice, but some only want the nori as a touch of flavour wrapping only the onigiri base. Some prefer them unwrapped and eat the nori separately to savour the crunchy texture when eating.
The Rice Ball Variations Across Japan
Something curious about onigiri is that its shape depends on the location. For example, in Kyushu (九州 – the southeastern island of Japan), many people prefer triangular-shaped rice ball because they are easier to eat. However, in Tokyo, they like the rounded semi-oval onigiris, as they look more homemade. Whichever shape you choose, the important thing is to compress the onigiri well so that it doesn’t crumble. But at the same time, you have to avoid the rice losing their shape and becoming a pasty mass.
The final result of our homemade onigiri!
Which Stuffed Food Can You Add Inside the Onigiri?
We can consider onigiris as the Japanese version of sandwiches since the content will depend on where you live and what you have at home. One classic filling is umeboshi, a pickled Japanese apricot. Other options can be the popular canned sockeye salmon and mayonnaise tuna salad filling.
Umeboshi classic onigiri Nori onigiri A mixed food onigiri Rounded onigiri with salmon
Besides the traditional rice ball, you can also let your creativity go and add decorations or make more original shapes. As you have already seen, onigiris are made with rice along with your favourite food. As you can have thousands of combinations, you can come up with new ideas or use leftover food in your fridge.
These modern onigiris look quite different from the traditional ones.
If you want to know what kind of rice balls we made for these photographs, we leave you a list with the different flavours:
- Tuna and mayonnaise whole covered by nori seaweed.
- Hijiki seaweed and chopped umeboshi.
- Umeboshi (without the pit).
- Fried bacon with green sprouts.
- Onigiri with shiso leaf and a piece of grilled salmon.
- Grilled salmon with a strip of nori seaweed.
- Scrambled egg with sesame seeds.
- Salmon furikake with dehydrated seaweed.
- Sausage with ketchup and mayonnaise.
- Tomato, fried bacon and scrambled egg on to it.
Itadakimasu: Ready to Eat!
Onigiris is an excellent way to get into Japanese food. They are easy to prepare, and they have an endless variety of combinations that can be easily adapted to seasonal ingredients from different parts of the world. So, go ahead, try a rice ball with exotic flavours and even introduce a radical change in diet to a healthier one. We hope you enjoy the recipe. Mata-ne!
Pictures by Lucía
The updated article (July 2020) and translation by Maria
The post Homemade Onigiri: How to Prepare this Japanese Dish at Home appeared first on VOYAPON.
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