Onigiri (Salmon and Okaka)
Japan's everyday rice ball: freshly cooked rice, salted by hand, filled with flaked salmon or soy-seasoned bonito and wrapped in crisp nori.
Method
Put the rice in a bowl, cover it with water, swirl it gently with your hand and pour the water off straight away. Repeat 3 or 4 times until the water is almost clear. Drain, tip the rice into the pot, add the measured water and soak for ; soaked grains turn opaque white all the way through.
Add in this stepJapanese short-grain rice 200 gWater (for cooking the rice) 250 ml
Cover the 16 cm pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. After about 5 minutes, when you hear bubbling and steam puffs from under the lid, turn down to low heat and cook for . Turn off the heat and, without lifting the lid, let it steam for . Then fluff the rice gently with a paddle, turning it from the bottom.
high heat→low heatWhile the rice cooks, put the salmon skin side down in a 20 cm non-stick frying pan, cover and cook over medium heat for , turning once halfway. It is done when it is opaque all the way through and flakes easily with chopsticks. Remove the skin and any bones and break the flesh into small flakes.
Add in this stepSalted salmon fillet (or fresh salmon plus a pinch of salt) 80 g
medium heatIn a small bowl, mix the bonito flakes with the soy sauce to make moist okaka. Add only enough soy sauce to dampen the flakes; too much makes the rice soggy.
Add in this stepBonito flakes (katsuobushi) 4 gSoy sauce 1 tsp
Spread the rice in a wide bowl and let it cool for 2 to 3 minutes, until it is hot but comfortable to handle. Wet your hands and rub a pinch of salt over both palms. Take about 110 g of rice (a little smaller than a tennis ball), press a hollow in the middle, add a heaped teaspoon of salmon or okaka and cover it with rice. Cup one hand into a V to form a corner and support the ball with the other, then press gently 3 or 4 times, turning it each time, into a triangle. Make 4 rice balls this way, half with salmon and half with okaka. Squeezing too hard crushes the grains and makes them dense.
Add in this stepSalt (for your hands) 1 tsp
Wrap each onigiri in half a sheet of nori, starting from the bottom. For crisp nori, wrap just before eating; for a lunch box, wrap ahead and cover in cling film so the nori softens and clings to the rice.
Add in this stepNori sheets (full size, cut in half) 2
Cook's tip
Shape the rice while it is freshly cooked and warm, or it won't hold together; reheat cold rice in the microwave first. Salt goes on your hands, not into the rice, so the outside is seasoned and the flavour stays clear. Keep leftovers wrapped in a cool place and eat them the same day; the fridge makes the rice hard.
Cooking it at camp
Make them at home, wrap each one in cling film and pack the nori separately in a zip bag so it is still crisp when you wrap it at camp. Keep them in a cool bag and eat the same day. Leftovers brushed with soy sauce and toasted on the grill become yaki onigiri.