Three Popular Onigiri
You can fill onigiri with just about anything your heart desires. Here are three popular fillings to give you inspiration!
Ingredients
- 400 g cooked short-grain rice or medium-grain rice about 2 rice cups uncooked
- 1 or 4 sheets nori seaweed
- salt
Tuna Mayo
- 1 can tuna in water 3oz/85g
- 1 tablespoon Japanese mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon dashi powder
Salmon/Shake (鮭）
- 1 salmon kirimi skin-on (Japanese-style filet)
- 1 tablespoon sake optional
- About 1 teaspoon salt
Bonito Flakes/Okaka (おかか）
- 1 handful about 6g bonito flakes (katsuobushi)
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Tuna Mayo
- Empty the whole can of tuna into a medium sized bowl. Lightly whisk with a fork to break up the chunks and to make the tuna a bit softer.
- Add the Japanese mayonnaise, soy sauce, and dashi powder and mix until fully incorporated. You can also add salt to taste, but personally this is salty enough for me.
- If this is the last or only filling you’ve made, proceed to the onigiri instructions. Otherwise, set aside for now.
Salmon
- Rinse the salmon filet to clean it and remove any bones. Pat dry thoroughly with a paper towel.
- Optional, soak salmon filet with sake in a deep plate for about 10 minutes. This will get rid of the fishy smell. After it has soaked, pat dry thoroughly with a paper towel. You can skip this if you don’t consume alcohol.
- Coat the salmon with the salt, focusing most of the salt onto the skin. Layer the salmon between two sheets of paper towel either in a container or on a plate. Cover and let dry in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, but no longer than 36 hours.
- After the salmon has dried, place on an oiled sheet of aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Broil under high heat for about 10 minutes or until the skin is crispy. You can also bake at 400°F/200°C for 20 minutes.
- Let cool then flake the salmon apart using a fork or chopstick. If this is the last or only filling you’ve made, proceed to the onigiri instructions. Otherwise, set aside for now.
Bonito Flakes
- In a pan, crumble katsuobushi until the flakes are small. If you are using finer shaved katsuobushi, skip this step.
- Turn on the heat to medium heat and begin to toast the katsuobushi. Stir occasionally to evenly heat.
- Once the katsuobushi has toasted and dried out more, add the sesame oil and soy sauce. Stir around quickly to evenly distribute. The sauce tends to splatter if not mixed in fast enough, so be careful.
- Add the sugar and mix until evenly combined. Transfer the okaka to a small bowl. Add the sesame seeds and mix until evenly distributed.
- If this is the last or only filling you’ve made, proceed to the onigiri instructions. Otherwise, set aside for now.
Onigiri
- Wet your hands with water and rub a small dab of salt in your palms. Scoop about 50g of rice (⅛ of the total rice) into one palm and make a small dent in the middle of the rice using your other hand.
- Scoop about a tablespoon of the filling into the center and carefully bring the surrounding rice over the filling to close it inside.
- Bend both hands at the fingers to form a 90 degree angle. Bringing your hands together perpendicularly, use one bend to form a point of the triangle and use the other to form the flat bottom of the triangle onigiri.
- Lightly squeeze as you rotate. One hand should reinforce the corners of the triangle while the other hand maintains the thickness and flatness of the overall onigiri. Be careful not to squeeze too hard as the filling may start to squeeze out.
- Repeat with the remaining rice. The tuna mayo mix makes about 8 onigiri, using all 400g of rice. Both the salmon and okaka make about 4 onigiri each, using about 200g or 1 rice cup of rice, so adjust the amount of filling or rice you make as necessary.
- One way to wrap the nori on the onigiri is to take one sheet of nori and cut into 8 equal pieces by first cutting in half lengthwise then cutting each half into equal fourths crosswise. Place the bottom of an onigiri in the middle of the small strips and wrap both flaps upward on both sides of the onigiri. Repeat with the remaining onigiri.
- Another way to wrap the nori on the onigiri is to cut four sheets of nori in half lengthwise, giving you 4 equal sized pieces. Place the onigiri in the middle of the strip held horizontally so that the top and bottom line up with the edges of the nori. Fold one side diagonally across and repeat with the other side. Tuck the bottom flaps under and behind and repeat with the remaining onigiri.
- Once you’ve wrapped all the onigiri, the onigiri is done! 完成です！