One of my favourite "SOS" dishes is the onigiri (rice balls). It's also fortunately my hubby's all-time favourite.
Rice is one of the staples in Japan, so this easy-to-follow rice recipe is naturally acquired in the process of growing up in a Japanese household. This "must-have" goes into children's school bento(lunch-boxes) and picnic baskets.
To make this process of making onigiri easier, I also found a video clip on youtube. This video is a blessing to afficionados of Japanese food who are wondering how to make this. But here's a note: the lady in the video, a seasoned housewife, you bet, is dexterous. The video shows the authentic way of preparing the rice balls and the traditional varieties of ingredients that you can stuff into them.
I don't want to compete with the expert in the video, but I will write how I have discovered the easy way of making these rice balls. However, I still guarantee that the onigiri will be delicious and fuss-free. It's guaranteed success if you follow the steps in this post, which are written for someone who does not cook too often. I know many Singaporeans belong to this category.
(1) First choose a good mould that will absolutely shape rice but will not allow rice to stick to it. The best I have found in Singapore is:
To save you the trouble of hunting for it, this is the venue and price for it:
Takashimaya Shopping Mall, Basement 1, the row of wares beside the cashier counter. The price is SGD4.90 (four dollars ninety cents before tax).
(2)Prepare ingredients that you are fond of. Many ingredients go well with rice: hard-boiled egg, sausage, bonito flakes with soy sauce, sour plum, cod-fish, salmon, tuna, etc. If you have left-overs from a previous meal (e.g. turkey, salmon, cod, grilled chicken or beef), by all means, use them!
Sesame seeds-both black and golden- are great. Buy a genuine,high-quality seaweed, Japanese or Korean. It makes a great difference to your onigiri, taste -wise.
(3) Cook Japanese rice. The short- variety rice is availabe at NTUC (e.g. Kokuho rice) which is about 9.60 a bag (2 kg); Meidi-Ya (many varieties); and Isetan supermarkets. Their prices differ. Those made in Vietnam (Koshihikari) are about one-third the price of that grown in Japan. Newly harvested rice (which I like best) from Mie prefecture costs about SGD20for two kilogrammes at Meidi-Ya.
Wash the rice; cook it using a rice cooker. Three cups of rice (make 6 onigiri ) and require 3.5 cups of water. No soaking required before cooking.
(4)For easy-to-make onigiri, pour all the ingredients into a big bowl, then empty hot cooked rice into the bowl and mix.
(5) Cut the seaweed into pieces of any shape that you like. Don't worry if the seaweed softens when it contacts your hands.
(6) Scoop rice to fill each mould to the top. Cover the lid of the mould to compress.
(7)Remove the lid of the mould. Next turn the plastic mould, with rice inside, upside down. Press the tab in the middle of the mould to push the rice out. The triangular piece falls out nicely.
(8)Wrap the seaweed around the rice pieces - anyway you like. Do it quickly since the seaweed becomes malleable with hot rice.
If you are eating them immediately, serve them at this stage. If not, then continue with the following steps if you are storing them for meals a few days later:
(9)Sit the rice balls on a tray or plate placed in the path of the breeze. If your kitchen is a breezy area, by the time you are done with your sixth rice ball, the onigiri can be wrapped immediately for storage.
(10) Wrap up the cooled rice balls in aluminium foil and put them in the fridge if you are eating them a few days later. Microwave or grill the refrigerated rice balls before eating.
Bon appetit!
