Onigiri

The Method for Onigiri

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1. Rinse the rice in several changes of water until it runs almost clear.

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2. Cook it with the 480 ml water, covered, for 12 minutes, then rest off the heat 10 minutes.

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3. Mix the flaked salmon with the mayonnaise and soy sauce.

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4. Tip the rice into a wide bowl and fold in the sesame seeds. Let it cool to about 60°C / 140°F — hot but just handleable.

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5. Wet your palms with the water and rub a pinch of the shaping salt over them.

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6. Take a handful of rice, flatten it, put a spoonful of filling in the middle and close the rice over it.

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7. Press into a triangle by cupping one hand into a V and turning the rice against it, three or four turns.

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8. Wrap a band of nori round the base of each.

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9. Repeat, re-wetting and salting your hands each time.

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10. Serve within a few hours, at room temperature.

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Related guide: Choosing rice.

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Keep an Eye on These

1. Shape hot, around sixty degrees.
2. Wet, salted palms every single time.
3. Wrap the nori just before eating if you want it crisp.

To Go With It

Miso soup · Green tea · Pickled ginger

Leftovers

Best the day they are made, at room temperature. Refrigeration makes the rice hard.

Onigiri Nutrition

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.