onigiri

Are you guys sick of me cooking Japanese food yet?? Inspired by my earlier finds regarding mirin, I made a quick Japanese dinner tonight. First up, udon with shimeji mushrooms. The noodles came with a soup packet, so I really didn't do much there. I did add the mushrooms and some wakame seaweed to make it a bit more interesting. good start!

Next up some homemade onigiri. Now these little suckers have kept me going whenever I've traveled through Japan. They're available everywhere in the ubiquitous 7-11s, and make a solid breakfast or midday snack. They're basically big rice balls... or triangles, usually stuffed with something or other - salmon, seaweed, pickled plums are common, and then wrapped with crisp seaweed (nori). I've also had fresh onigiri which are served at room temp and far better, but perhaps not nearly as convenient to find.
Anyway, it's really not all that hard to make, and I've been wanting to give it a shot for some time. I mixed my rice with some scallions, black sesame seeds, bonito flakes and seaweed. None of this is necessary - in fact the ones I ate from the 7-11s were almost always just plain rice. The rice should be Japanese short grain. You don't season it like you do sushi rice, it's just plain, but should be a bit sticky so the whole thing holds together.
 
Then I made a little salmon salad for the stuffing. I used decent quality canned salmon and added a bit of mayo and some soy sauce. In the second one I also added chili sauce to give it a kick. That's it. Just wrap it up using cellophane and press it together. Then use nori seaweed to wrap the exterior - again not necessary if you don't have it. In the end you have some delicious and filling snacks that are great any time of the day.