Adventures in Onigiri

At the suggestion of Angela, we decided to try our hand a making a traditional Japanese lunch. Onigiri = rice balls with filling and some nori to hold it all together. There are all sorts of traditional fillings such as bonito shavings (dry fish flakes). Being American, we decided to try some less traditional fillings. Kristen really wanted to try peanut butter and jelly and I was all gung-ho for some sort of tuna fish. The most crucial part of this meal is having the correct kind of rice (and cooking it well…as we learned, bad rice makes for bad onigiri).

Here’s a list of what we got and where:

• Sushi rice: Local store, $3.00
• Nori (roasted seaweed): U Mart, $1.50
• Fillings: Can of all white chunk tuna $3.00, PB&J (already in the house)

The one thing I learned from this meal is how awesome a rice cooker can be (as in, get one if you don’t already have one). Making rice is a hundred times easier and you don’t end up with the ‘ol brick of rice. I picked up a small rice cooker on Amazon for around $20 (I probably could have gotten one cheaper somewhere else but I had an Amaozn giftcard that needed to be used).

I followed this guy’s directions for assembling the onigiri. The key to making them and ever wanting to make them again is optimizing the assembly process. Take the time to set up an assembly line with everything that you’ll need and the whole process will go way smoother. I used a small tea cup for the first round of onigiri and decided they were a little too big — a bit too much rice for my taste. I ended up using a double shot glass for bite-sized versions and they were just the right size.

The PB & J ones worked out well. Just drop the jelly in first, seal it up with peanut butter, and round out the ball with a tiny bit of rice. For the tuna filling, I mixed the tuna with a little lite miracle whip, and I experimented with a little hot sauce and curry powder to taste. They turned out pretty good, too…just enough flavor to compliment the rice but not overdo it.

Word to the wise: fresh nori has a unique odor that will fill any small space so warn your co-workers!

Overall this meal cost $7.50, it was fun to make, and held up well during the commute to work.