Oh! Onigiri.

Lets be honest here! We all want to cook a meal that will accommodate all our hunger needs, simple to make, and will never disappoint us when we serve it. I'm pleased to tell you that there is such a dish and it's called Onigiri.

I'm a big fan of "simple to make, simple to eat food". Especially when we're a family that's always on the go-go-go. The kids love this Japanese dish called Onigiri--which means rice balls. You can put just about anything in them or nothing at all. You can wrap them in some Nori or roll them in sesame seed seasonings or put nothing at all around them...so simple! And so very accommodating to Ones needs. You can shape and mold them into anything you like; balls, triangular shapes, oval shapes, heart shapes...whatever YOUR heart desire. What would be really good to put in them are left over BBQs.

Here I have three different kinds. The triangular shaped Onigiri are filled with pickled plum called: umeboshi. Ball shaped Onigiris are filled with smoked salmons. The cylindrical shaped Onigiri has no fillings, just a dab of sesame seeds with bits of nori on the ends. I think the only reason my kids like this dish is it's simplicity in taste and you get to eat it with your fingers. Just like the Laos sticky rice.

Here's how you make these wonderful Onigiri!:

To make this Onigiri dish happen you'd need to use Japanese short/medium grain rice. It's sticky, fluffy, and sweet tasting. Any other kind of rice like jasmine, basamati, instant rice...etc. won't work. Well it will but won't taste as good or stick together as well.

For today's Onigiri I'm using smoked salmons, salted Japanese plums called Ume, and sesame seed with some small sliced nori. Japanese rice (of course!), salted water to wet your hands with while rolling the rice, and Nori to wrap around the rice balls.

First let the cooked rice cool to a temperature you're comfortable working with.
**Careful not to burn yourself with HOT rice**
Roll the rice into a palm size ball, my hands are small so its about two adults bites worth? I make them palm size because it makes it easier for the kids to eat. If you're going to make it for going out on a picnic you can make it larger. I like to make one shape for one kind of fillings. The round balls will have smoked salmons.

Then you press an indentation on the rice ball with your thumb and put a small filling in it. Then close the rice into the indentation and roll to make a smooth rice ball.

For the small balls (giggles!) I cut the nori in half.

Wrap the halved nori around the rice ball. Yeah...one down many more to go.

Next we will make the triangular shaped Onigiri with Ume inside. It is the same process as for the salmons above. But you'd want to use the whole nori not the halved nori...then you put them between your fingers and thumb and shape it into a triangle.

Ta-Da!!!!

We are hosting a Japanese student this spring semester and in this picture she is showing you how to make the Large Onigiri triangles. You put the large ball on a palm of your hand and you press down with the other hand ontop. Keep on rotating and pressing down until you get a tight structure.

YIPPIE! So Pretty. Looks like the rice ball is wearing a Kimono.
I forgot to mention, you'd want to use two sheets of Nori for the Large triangle.

I've opted to not show you how to make the plain cylindrical Onigiri, assuming that you've got the idea. Have fun making this and Enjoy!