How to Make Japanese Rice Balls

One of the quintessential box lunch foods, onigiri, Japanese rice balls, are fun and super easy to make. Here, onigiri are a main dish to take on a picnic party to view the blooming cherry trees, but don’t feel like you need a party to make these delicious Japanese snacks that eat like meals.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 cup Japanese short grain rice, you can use sushi-grade rice
• 4 sheets of toasted nori seaweed laver
• 3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp black sesame seeds
• 1 jar pickled plums, also called Ume-boshi
• 4 tbsp smoked salmon
• 2 tbsp dried fish flakes, also called bonito flakes
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• Water for hands
• Salt for hands, try to use sea salt or kosher salt for the best flavor
• Filling ingredients
• Rice paddle
• Medium-sized saucepan or rice cooker
• Above ingredients

1. Wash the rice before you cook it by filling the pot containing the rice with cold water and running your hand through the rice for approximately two minutes. The water will become cloudy with the rice starch. Repeat the process of washing the rice at least three times or until the washing water becomes noticeably less cloudy.

2. Once the rice is washed, cook it either in a rice cooker or in a medium-sized saucepan with a tight lid. Generally, you want to have one cup of rice to one cup of water for sushi rice. The older the rice, the more water you will need.

3. If you are using a rice cooker, follow the instructions for your device and start cooking the rice.

4. If you are using a saucepan, heat the rice on medium-high until the water just begins to boil. At that point, turn the heat down to a simmer, low heat, and cover the rice. Simmer the rice for approximately 20 minutes until all the water is absorbed and the rice is fully cooked.

5. While the rice is cooking, stack the nori so you can cut them all at the same time.

6. Cut the nori into one-inch thick slices. Set the nori to the side. Notice that the nori has a dull side and a shiny side. Make sure that all your slices are dull side up.

7. In a small dish, pour the soy sauce and add the bonito flakes and soak them until you use the bonito.

8. In another small dish, mix the two types of sesame seeds together.

9. Once the rice has finished cooking, let it sit uncovered until the rice is cool enough to handle with your bare hands, but not overly cool as the rice sticks together better when it is warm.

10. Pour a small amount of water into a bowl and the salt into a different bowl. Wet your hands with the water and rub a teaspoon’s worth of salt onto your hands. This helps to keep the rice from sticking and also flavors the rice slightly.

11. If you have a rice paddle, use this to spoon a large mound, approximately ½ cup of rice into your off hand. If you don't have a rice paddle, use your hands to gather the mound.

12. Start lightly pressing the rice together with your hands, keeping your non-dominant hand flat to form the base of the onigiri. With your dominant hand, form the top of the mound into a triangle shape.

13. Turn the ball once to shape again until you have a nice triangle shape to your onigiri. Lay the onigiri flat in your off hand and press a deep dimple into one side. Place one of the ingredients, a pickled plum, a pinch of salmon or a teaspoon of soy sauce bonito into the dimple.

14. Once you have placed the filling in the ball, take a strip of nori and wrap it lengthwise, with the shiny side facing up, over one side of the onigiri. Think of the nori as a place to hold the onigiri while you eat it.

15. The nori also should cover the dimple you made, with the exception of the dimple containing the pickled plum. That filling should not be covered by the nori because you don’t want someone to accidentally bite the tough plum seed.

16. Now, if you wish you can roll one side of the triangle in the sesame seed mixture.

17. Serve and enjoy.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use molds to shape your rice balls if you want. These molds come in many different shapes, from traditional triangles to small cylinders or even cartoon characters. You can buy rice ball molds at a well-stocked Asian market.
• The filling for the onigiri can be almost anything you want it to be. Try fillings such as tuna fish salad, crab salad, cooked eel or even creamed corn. The filling is only limited by your imagination.
• You can also use specialized rice seasonings, called furikake, which feature ingredients such as sesame seeds, bonito flakes, egg, dehydrated vegetables and nori flakes. You can either dip one of the sides of the completed rice ball in the furikake, or you can mix the furikake into the rice before you begin to shape the balls.
• You can also mix the sesame seeds into the rice before shaping the balls if you wish for a more consistent rice mixture.
• A variation for the onigiri is to omit the filling and wrap the nori strip around the perimeter of the triangle. Brush a small amount of soy sauce onto one side of the rice ball and sear the rice over medium-high heat for approximately 30 seconds in a small sauté pan. The soy sauce will brown slightly and form a crunchy side to the rice ball. This gives a different flavor dimension to a regular onigiri.
• You can buy a plastic or bamboo rice paddle at an Asian market or a well-stocked kitchen supply store.
• Wrapped well in cling film, you can store onigiri refrigerated for up to a week.

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[savemoneycenter]

on 8/25/2008 I had these at a party once and I always wanted to know how to make them. Thanks, Great step by step

[siyaporn]

on 7/16/2008 It would be better if you added some photo

[DawnChesbro]

on 5/13/2008 You can indeed substitute Ume-boshi for other ingredients! If you want the pickled flavor that Ume-boshi is famous for, try pickled carrots or daikon. Or if you want a sweeter flavor, try using canned lychee or longan fruit.

Please see my tips and warnings for more filling ideas.

[Nyko]

on 2/8/2008 Is there anyway I can substitute Ume-boshi for something else?

[tmiskiew]

on 5/20/2007 yummy