Furikake Onigiri (ふりかけおにぎり, seasoned rice balls)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rice cooker or heavy pot with tight lid
• •Rice paddle (shamoji), or a broad wooden spoon
• •Wide mixing bowl
• •Small bowl for hand water

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the rice

   Put the rice in a bowl, cover with cold water, and stir with your fingers. Pour off the cloudy water and repeat until it runs mostly clear, four or five changes. This washes away loose surface starch so the cooked grains cling cleanly instead of turning gummy. Wash it twice, wash it thrice, then trust your eyes.

2. 2

   Cook and rest

   Cook the rice with the measured water in a rice cooker, or in a covered pot until tender. Let it rest, covered, for ten minutes after cooking. That rest lets the moisture settle evenly through the grains, so the rice shapes without wet patches or dry corners.

   Use Japanese short-grain rice. Long-grain rice will not hold properly without rough handling, and rough handling ruins the texture.
3. 3

   Season the rice

   Turn the hot rice into a wide bowl and scatter the furikake over it. Fold with a rice paddle using cutting motions, not mashing ones, until the seasoning is evenly streaked through. Hot rice takes the sesame, nori, bonito, or shiso aroma quickly, and folding keeps the grains whole.

4. 4

   Salt your hands

   Set out a small bowl of water and the salt. Wet both hands, shake off the excess, and rub a pinch of salt across your palms. The water keeps the rice from sticking, and the salt seasons the outside lightly, the way we do it here.

5. 5

   Shape the onigiri

   Scoop about 1/2 cup warm rice into one palm. Cup your lower hand and use the other hand as a roof, pressing and turning three or four times to make a triangle or rounded ball. Press only until it holds. Too much force crushes the grain, and the pleasure of onigiri is rice that still tastes like rice.

   If the rice burns your hands, wait a minute, not twenty. It should be hot enough to cling and cool enough to handle.
6. 6

   Wrap and serve

   Wrap each onigiri with a half sheet of nori just before eating if you want the seaweed crisp. For a lunch box, wrap the rice and nori separately, then bring them together at the table. Serve warm or at room temperature, never packed tight against each other. Leave them room.

Chef Tips

• •Choose furikake with ingredients you can recognize: sesame, nori, bonito, shiso, egg, or dried fish. If salt and sugar are all you taste, use less and add toasted sesame of your own.
• •Furikake often contains fish, egg, or dairy. For a meatless table, choose a sesame, nori, or yukari shiso furikake and read the label plainly. That can still be honmono.
• •Do not shape onigiri with cold rice unless you are reheating it first. Cold rice needs pressure, and pressure makes the grains heavy.
• •If using nori, wrap at the last moment for crispness. Wrapped early, it softens, which is not wrong, only a different pleasure.

Advance Preparation

• •Cook the rice shortly before shaping. Onigiri is best the day it is made, while the grains still have their softness.
• •You can portion the furikake and cut the nori a day ahead. Keep the nori sealed and dry until serving.
• •For a picnic, wrap each onigiri in parchment or plastic wrap once cool, and keep nori separate if you want it crisp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 130g)