Onigiri
Onigiri are Japanese rice balls with a savoury, salty or sour filling, usually enjoyed as a snack or light meal. The fillings can be anything you like – mild cheddar and chopped cooked bacon, flaked salmon or edamame beans also work well.
Ingredients
For the umeboshi filling (optional)
- 5cm/2in kombu (approx. 5²µ/â…›o³ú), soaked in cold water for 10 minutes
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sake
- 1 tsp mirin
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 pieces umeboshi (Japanese pickled plums)
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
For the sweetcorn filling (optional)
Method
Wash the rice in five changes of water. Drain in a colander, transfer to a pan and leave to soak in about 400ml/14fl oz water for about an hour.
Cover with a lid and bring to the boil over a medium–low heat – this should take 10–15 minutes. There is no need to open the lid: you will hear the rice bubbling, or see when the bubbles lift the lid. Turn the heat down to low and cook for a further 10–15 minutes (if you’ve been tempted and opened the lid, give it a little boost of high heat for 10 seconds).
Turn off the heat and leave the rice to steam in the pan for further 10 minutes.
Once it has steamed, stir up the rice from the bottom of the pan a few times, then divide into either four or six smaller portions.
While the rice is cooking, prepare the fillings you'd like. To make the umeboshi onigiri, take the kombu out of the water and cut it into thin strips, then simmer over a low heat with half of the soaking water, the soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar. When most of the liquid has evaporated, take off the heat and set aside to cool.
Take the stones out of the umeboshi and roughly chop.
To shape the onigiri, wet your hands and sprinkle a small amount of salt on them, then take a portion of rice into one of your hands. Make a little hole in the middle of the rice and place half of the umeboshi and half of the kombu in the hole, then mould the rice over the filling. Keep rotating the rice ball in your hands as you gently form a triangular shape. Repeat to make either two large or three smaller rice balls.
To make the sweetcorn onigiri, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the corn and fry for 3 minutes. Add the bonito flakes and soy sauce, stir briefly and take off the heat. Add a pinch of salt and mix with the remaining rice. Shape into two or three triangles or balls.
Cut the nori sheet into four or six strips. Place an onigiri at the centre of each strip of nori and fold the sides up.
Recipe Tips
No need to focus on forming the perfect shape: the point of onigiri is that every rice ball is different because every hand that forms them is different, and they are filled with warmth, love and oddness!
Try mixing roasted sesame seeds into the rice before forming the balls.
You may have rice leftover, you can you use this for extra meals throughout the week, such as or .
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