Onigiri 4 Levels: From Plain to Fried Chicken
Onigiri, the nationally famous Japanese rice balls, are so versatile, fast and easy to make that everyone should make them at least once. This japanese onigiri recipe runs from level one all the way up to level four, techniques, variations, and how to make, eat and reheat them. Sky is the limit with these balls.
Ingredients
- 400 g high-quality short-grain rice (sushi rice / Japanese rice)
- 480 ml water (the perfect ratio is always 1 part rice to 1.2 parts water)
- a few sheets nori (dried seaweed), kept dry and crisp
- a good rub coarse salt, for your hands
- 1 per ball umeboshi (Japanese plums, salty, sour, amazing in rice balls)
- 1 can tuna in oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp Kewpie mayo
- 1 sheet nori, broken down
- 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 fillet salmon
- 2 tbsp white miso paste
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp mirin
- a splash olive oil + a soy sauce and miso paste mixture, for grilling
- a few chicken thighs, cut into small bite-size pieces that fit in an onigiri
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 bowl all-purpose flour, for coating
- 1 bowl potato or corn starch, for coating
- for frying canola or sunflower oil
Method
The rice
- 1
Weigh the rice and water, 1 part rice, 1.2 parts water. Then wash the rice at least three times, or until the water turns less cloudy. You're removing excess starch for the perfect sticky texture. This is honestly the most work in the whole recipe; the rest is done in seconds.
- 2
Cook 12 to 15 minutes in a rice cooker, or in a pan with a lid (add a kitchen towel between lid and pan to trap the steam better). Never take off the lid during cooking, the steam is what makes it sticky.
- 3
Turn the rice a few times with a rice spoon and move it into a hangiri, the Japanese wooden bowl sushi chefs use. Or if you don't want to be culturally fancy like me, any bowl, it also helps cool the rice down.
Shaping the basic onigiri
- 4
Wet your hands slightly, not too wet, not too dry, and rub some coarse salt between them.
- 5
Grab a good palmful of rice (an onigiri runs 50 to 80 g per ball) and cup your hands together like a mountain, guiding with two fingers.
- 6
Do not press too hard, or it becomes a solid rock of rice, not tasty, trust me. Loose, but sticking together nicely. Takes a few tries; easy to learn.
- 7
Wrap a nori strip around the ball. Voilà, your first onigiri.
Level 1, umeboshi onigiri
- 8
Same gesture, but make a little hole in the middle, place the umeboshi in, and cup the rice gently around it. Wrap with nori.
Level 2, tuna mayo onigiri
- 9
Mix the can of tuna with the soy sauce and Kewpie mayo; set aside.
- 10
New shaping technique: line a small bowl with plastic wrap. Water and salt your hands, put rice in the bowl and form it up the sides.
- 11
Add one teaspoon of the tuna mayo to the middle. Don't be too greedy with the filling, I know it's tempting, I've been there, or the ball can't close and stick on all sides.
- 12
Fold the rice closed with the plastic wrap, mold it into a triangle in your hand, unwrap, and wrap with nori, a bigger piece this time, around the whole onigiri. Dab some filling on top so you know what's in it.
Level 3, furikake onigiri
- 13
Break the nori sheet into a spice blender with the sesame seeds, sugar and salt. Blitz a few times, that's homemade Japanese rice seasoning. The combinations are endless; make it spicy if you like.
- 14
Use rice without salt this time, mix the furikake through it in a bowl, shape, and add nori.
Level 4a, miso salmon onigiri, grilled
- 15
Mix the miso, sake, soy sauce, sesame oil and mirin, and marinate the salmon in it for about 20 minutes.
- 16
Oven at 200°C, salmon in for 5 minutes. It falls apart perfectly.
- 17
Fill a rice ball with a piece of salmon. No nori here, we make a yaki onigiri, a grilled one: olive oil in a non-stick pan on medium heat, glaze the shaped ball on both sides with a soy sauce and miso paste mixture, and grill.
Level 4b, karaage onigiri (the final boss)
- 18
Mix the ginger paste, garlic, soy sauce, sake and sesame oil, and marinate the chicken pieces for 20 minutes or so.
- 19
Set up one bowl of flour and one of starch. Heat the oil to 180°C.
- 20
Coat the chicken in flour first, then starch, shake off the excess, and fry 2 to 3 minutes max. Salt them immediately.
- 21
You know the drill by now: water, salt, rice, chicken in the middle, shape into a triangular cone. I dusted furikake on top and used half a nori sheet so it sits nice and cozy, plus a small piece of chicken on top so you know what's in it.
10 tools I used.
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