Rice balls, or onigiri, are a common Japanese dish. You may have even seen how heroes feast on them in Japanese films or anime, changing onigiri with different fillings with each other. You can try to touch the culture of the mysterious eastern country and cook one of the varieties of rice balls.
Cooking rice balls: video recipe
Rice Ball Ingredients
There are many options for making rice balls, because you can use anything as a filling: fish, meat, cucumber, avocado, pickled vegetables and fruits. The main thing is that the filling is not sweet. Try a traditional Japanese recipe with salmon and pickled umeboshi plums. This dish can be great for Japanese diets.
To do this you will need:
- 7 cups sushi rice
- 4 pickled plums;
- a piece of grilled salmon (you can use any other red fish, tuna and even canned fish, the main thing is not to get carried away with raw seafood);
- a tablespoon of salt; – nori seaweed;
- sesame.
If you can’t find pickled plums, use any other filling: cucumber, shrimp, canned corn.
How to make rice for Japanese balls
First, prepare the rice, from which you will later create balls. First, soak the rice in cold water for 15–20 minutes, then rinse it thoroughly, cover with water in a ratio of one to two and put on fire. Cook the rice over low heat until tender (as a rule, it takes 10-15 minutes after the water boils). Remove the pot from the stove and let the rice cool. To make the onigiri, it must be hot, but not scalding your hands.
If you wish, you can add spices you have to the rice to add a spicy flavor to the dish.
Pour a tablespoon of salt into a shallow cup, bowl, or simply on a separate plate. Separate one eighth of the rice and transfer to another container. Make a hole in the center of this pile of rice, place a plum (or whatever filling you choose to use instead of umeboshi) and then cover it with rice. Wet your hands with water, take a small amount of salt and rub it into your palms. Remove the plum rice and shape into a bun. It should be tight enough and hold its shape well. Make four pickled plums onigiri. Take a nori sheet, cut it into four strips and wrap them around the balls.
Triangular onigiri are also quite popular. Try which treats are easier for you to sculpt, and choose this option or make different onigiri
Remove the bones from the piece of salmon, mash the meat with a fork and stir in the remaining rice. Divide the resulting mass into four parts and form a few more balls. Sprinkle sesame seeds on the onigiri and serve.