Effortnesslessly: Japanese Onigiri

Onigiri is a traditional Japanese food made from cooked short-grain white rice formed into triangular, cylindrical, or spherical shapes, typically wrapped in nori (seaweed). I discovered this dish a several years ago and, since then, me, my family and, now my friends too, fall in love with it. Besides the fact that it's easy and delicious, onigiri is very versatile and forgiving. The only must ingredient is short-grain rice. Jasmine or basmati rice are not going to work here as they are not sticky enough. I usually use sushi rice. Also I have special onigiri mold, but you don't have to have it - you can just form a shape, triangle one or other, with your hands.

Onigiri with Tuna salad

For about 12 onigiri:

- 2 cups uncooked short-grain rice

- 2 tbs furikake (optional) *

- some salt

- 1 can of solid albacor tuna (or salmon)

- 3 tbs mayo

- 1 tsp sriracha (optional)

- 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

- nori sheets or small snacking seaweed (Costco)

1) Rinse rice 5 times or until water is clear. Cook it in 2.5 cups of water until completely cooked (use rice cooker for convenience). When cooked, fluff with a spoon and set aside to cool until warm.

2). Meanwhile prepare tuna salad. Drain canned tuna, smash it with a fork, add mayo, sriracha and sesame oil, mix well.

3). Finish preparing your rice by adding a little salt and furikake, mix carefully trying not to ruin the rice structure.

4). To form the onigiri, place mold on a cutting board, fill the bottom with a one tablespoon of rice making a little well in a center. Place about 2 teaspoons of your tuna filling in this well and cover it with another tablespoon of rice. Place mold cover on top, press it down to form a shape, pick up the sides (mold), then remove the mold cover with a little bit twisting move. It's sounds complexes, but in reality it's not 🙂 Or as i mentioned about form your onigiri with your palms.

5). If using snacking seaweed from Costco, wrap it around lower part of onigiri. If using nori sheets, use a half of it to wrap all sides of onigiri.

6). Onigiri are best when freshly made, but still good after refridgeration as well.

Notes:

- you can do express version of the above recipe without filling, but just mixing your tuna salad into rice and then molding it into a shape and wraping into seaweed sheet. See it among my pictures below. Usually, especially when I'm in a hurry, I do the remaining part the express-way 😅

- this time, I garnished onigiri with seaweed powder (from oriental market) and toasted sesame seeds. I also added some sesame seeds to my express version onigiri.

- versatility of onigiri is impressive - do your fillings with meat, veggies, caviar, shrimp, scrambled eggs, change the spiciness level to your liking and garnish them with whatever.

- I like to use Japan-made furikake with a tiny bits of dry carrot and beet, as it makes my onigiri very pretty.

- I got my onigiri mold on Amazon. I wish only two other molds from the set would be a little smaller. So I use only one of them - smaller triangular shape.

- I like to fry my onigiry refridgerated leftovers, in a skilled, on a little bit oil. They come out crunchy and delish.

* Furikake is a rice seasoning that can be used not just for onigiri but for rice seadoning in general. There are many different furikake types. Usually I get it from oriental markets, but now it's available in Trader Joe's too.