Onigiri

By Corrine Gallagher ’24 for Fall 2021

This yummy traditional Japanese food item is often made daily, eaten by students as a snack or as an addition to their bento box (lunch box). It’s a basic recipe with easy-to-follow steps. Onigiri is traditionally a triangle-shaped rice ball stuffed with some form of vegetable or meat, topped off with a slice of nori seaweed and black sesame seeds. Some traditional fillings include tuna mayo, grilled salmon flakes, and umeboshi (pickled plums). You can add soy sauce, eel sauce, kewpie mayo, and whatever tastes good to your palette to enjoy these scrumptious snacks. As for my recipe, I will be making onigiri filled with tuna.

Ingredients:

1. Sushi rice (Brand: Koshihikari)
2. Black sesame seeds
3. Canned tuna (Brand: Chicken
   of the sea)
4. Kewpie spicy mayo
5. Eel sauce

Recipe:

1. Cook your rice. The ideal ratio is two parts water for each part rice. If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can simply soak the rice with two inches of water above it for 15-20 minutes.
2. Without a rice cooker: After the rice has soaked, drain it. Put it in a pot with equal parts water for each part of rice that you originally measured.
3. Place the pot on a stove at medium-high heat.
4. Once the water comes to a boil, lower the heat, and let the rice sit for 10-15 minutes.
5. Pop your cooked rice into a large mixing bowl. Add the black sesame seeds and mix through evenly. Separate the rice into equal portions, approximately big enough to be a large handful each.
6. Open the tuna and mix equal parts tuna with equal parts Kewpie spicy mayo and eel sauce. You can always add more tuna or more sauce depending on your palette.
7. Place the filling to the side.
8. Next, dampen your hands with water and rub together with a pinch or two of salt. This stops the rice from sticking to your hands and helps keep it fresher for longer.
9. Take a handful of the rice, about the size of your inner palm, and mold it like playdough so the rice sticks together.
10. Once the rice is covering your palm, make an indent in the rice.
11. Place chosen filling within the indentation.
12. Close the rice around the filling, and shape into a triangle.
13. Take a piece of nori seaweed and wrap it around the bottom of the onigiri.

Bam, you’re done! Now all that’s left is to bite into this yummy snack, and enjoy!

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