Eating Well: Onigiri 🍙

This weekend one of my friends was supposed to come visit but had to cancel last minute. Given that I didn’t have a guest to entertain anymore and my boyfriend was at work all day, I decided to get a few chores done. While I was out and about I decided I wanted to try making Onigiri (Japanese rice balls) and thought I’d share this recipe for anyone interested in recreating this emoji: 🍙

I’m pretty sure there are a million different (and better) ways to make these. Different fillings, different rice seasonings, different toppings… but I wanted to keep it pretty simple so I picked up some sushi rice, crab meat, rice seasoning and dried seaweed. You can also grab some soy sauce and sesame seeds (I didn’t even end up using these) if you like.

The first step (obviously) is to make your rice. I used a rice cooker and it took about 60 minutes. I initially only used one cup of dry rice and had to make a second batch while I was putting together the rice balls, so I would definitely recommend starting out with two cups of dry rice.

My last attempt to make Onigiri was a few years back and I tried making the rice balls as soon as the rice was done cooking. Do not do that. Since you’re rolling the balls with your hands, scalding hot rice doesn’t feel the best. It may seem really obvious, but it wasn’t for me haha so let your rice cool down a bit.

While I was waiting on the rice to cool a little, I cut up some seaweed to wrap the Onigiri in. If you don’t like seaweed, you definitely do not have to use it, the rice balls stick together just fine on their own.

I cut one sheet into thin strips which, later, I cut to the actual length that I needed. Was kinda just eyeballing here.

For the filling I just mixed a little soy sauce with the crab meat. Easy peasy.

When you start forming the rice balls it’s super important for your hands to be wet or else the rice will stick to them. So, with wet hands grab a handful of rice and if you’re filling them, make a little dent in the center.

Fill it up and you can add a little more rice on top and then with both hands start forming it. The ball is the easiest shape I found although I did try for a triangle…

The first one was the best.. and last triangle one I made – just don’t have those kind of skills. Wrap it up on a strip of seaweed and you’re done!

For half of the batch of rice I used this rice seasoning I found at my local Asian supermarket (along with all of the other ingredients). I couldn’t tell exactly how it would taste but it was the very last bottle left of it’s type so I figured it had to be the best.

It ended up being a combination of sweet, savory and spicy. It has a bunch of ingredients including sesame seed, seaweed, bonito, horseradish, mustard cooking wine and wasabi. I just mixed in the seasoning little by little before it got too overpowering.

You basically just repeat all the other steps with this rice and there you have it! Mine weren’t the prettiest little Onigiri, but they sure were tasty. A really simple recipe if you ever want to try something new.