onigiri-(japanese-rice-balls)

Lunch Food

Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls)

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

  • 4 cups uncooked short-grain white rice

  • 5 ½ cups water, divided

  • ¼ teaspoon salt

  • ¼ cup bonito shavings (dry fish flakes)

  • 2 sheets nori (dry seaweed), cut into 1/2-inch strips

  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.