Onigiri ~ Japanese Rice Balls

~ Level: medium ~ Time: 1 hour ~ Budget: low.

Onigiri is often called a "rice ball" in English, but it's more like a rice triangle or oval. Its convenient shape makes it a perfect portable snack or meal, ideal for picnics, lunches, and on-the-go eating. While the classic filling for onigiri is salted or pickled plum (umeboshi), there is a wide variety of fillings to choose from, including grilled salmon, tuna salad, teriyaki chicken, and more. This versatility allows for endless flavor combinations.

Many onigiri are wrapped in a sheet of nori (seaweed) to add flavor, texture, and a dash of umami. The nori also serves as a convenient grip to

hold the rice ball while eating. Onigiri is traditionally shaped into triangles, which are said to represent the peaks of mountains, a shape associated with good luck and protection against evil spirits. Allegedly, samurai used to bring onigiri to the battlefield.

Whether you enjoy onigiri for its cultural significance or simply because it's a delicious and portable snack, it's a beloved food item that continues to captivate taste buds around the world.

Onigiri ~ Japanese Rice Balls

Ingredients

• Japanese sushi rice (150g per onigiri)

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• 1 tbsp canned tuna, drained

• ½ tbsp mayonnaise

• ½ tbsp soy sauce

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• 1 tbsp white sesame seeds

• a pinch of salt

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

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• ½ tbsp white miso

• ½ tbsp sesame oil

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• plastic wrap

• salt

• nori (dried seaweed)

Method

1. Boil the rice, then let it cool down to room temperature.

2. For tuna mayo flavour, combine the tuna, mayonnaise and soy sauce. Spread out a piece of plastic wrap on the counter, and scoop 150g of cooled down rice on top of it. Make hole in the middle, add your filling inside the hole. Then close the rice around the filling with the help of the plastic wrap, and try to shape into a triangle. Take off the plastic wrap and add a slice of nori around the rice ball.

3. For sesame flavour, add the sesame seeds, salt, sesame oil and soy sauce straight to the cooled rice and mix everything together. Shape this mixture into a triangle with the help of the plastic wrap. Take off the plastic and wrap in a slice of nori.

4. For baked miso flavour, mix the miso and sesame oil until homogenous. Add 2/3 of this mixture to 150g of rice and combine. Shape into a triangle with the help of the plastic wrap. Use the rest of the miso mixture to spread on the surface of the triangle. Then fry the onigiri on each side in a pan with a little bit of sesame oil.

Wine pairing

A crisp, acidic white wine will pair great with onigiri. A good example is Grüner Veltliner. This grape usually brings out notes of lemon and lime in the wine which work well seafood (tuna in this case). Also for the sesame onigiri this pairing works great.