This easy onigiri recipe is also fun to make! These rice balls are a staple of Japanese lunchboxes (bento). You can put almost anything in these rice balls; try substituting grilled salmon, pickled plums, beef, pork, turkey, or tuna with mayonnaise.
Ingredients
- uncooked short-grain white rice: 4 cups
- water: 5.5 cups (divided)
- salt: 0.25 tsp
- bonito shavings (dry fish flakes): 0.25 cup
- nori (dry seaweed): 2 sheets (cut into 1/2 inch strips)
- sesame seeds: 2 Tbsp
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Wash rice in a mesh strainer until water runs clear. Combine washed rice and 4 1/2 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; cover, and simmer rice until water is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Let rice rest for 15 minutes to continue to steam and become tender. Allow cooked rice to cool.
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Combine remaining 1 cup water with salt in a small bowl; use to dampen hands before handling rice. Divide cooked rice into 8 equal portions. Use one portion of rice for each onigiri.
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Divide one portion of rice in two. Create a dimple in rice and fill with a heaping teaspoon of bonito flakes. Cover with remaining portion of rice and press lightly to enclose filling inside rice ball. Gently press rice to shape into a triangle; wrap with a strip of nori and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat with remaining portions of rice.
