Karaage Onigiri (唐揚げおにぎり, fried chicken rice ball)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rice cooker or heavy covered pot
• •Shamoji (rice paddle)
• •Heavy pot for frying
• •Deep-fry thermometer
• •Wire rack set over a tray
• •Onigiri mold or plastic wrap, optional stand-ins for shaping by hand

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 the water is only faintly cloudy, four or five changes. You're washing away loose surface starch, not polishing a stone. Leave too much starch behind and the cooked rice turns gummy on the outside, which makes a heavy onigiri.

2. 2

   Soak and cook

   Drain the washed rice for 10 minutes, then cook it with 400ml water in a rice cooker or a heavy covered pot. If using a pot, bring it to a boil, cover, lower the heat, cook 12 minutes, then rest off the heat 10 minutes without lifting the lid. The rest matters because the moisture finishes moving through the grain, and rice that is even from center to surface shapes cleanly.

3. 3

   Marinate the chicken

   While the rice soaks, mix the shoyu, sake, ginger, optional garlic, and sugar. Add the chicken and turn each piece well, then leave it for 20 to 30 minutes. Longer is not better here. Soy sauce keeps seasoning after you stop watching it, and too long in the marinade makes the outside salty and firm before the inside has its say.

   Cut the chicken into six pieces big enough to be found in the rice, but not so big they tear through it. About 40 to 50g each is right.
4. 4

   Coat with starch

   Lift the chicken from the marinade and let the excess drip off. Coat each piece in katakuriko, pressing the starch into the folds, then set the pieces on a rack for 5 minutes. That short rest hydrates the surface starch just enough to cling, so it fries into a light shell instead of falling away into the oil.

5. 5

   Fry the karaage

   Heat 2 inches of neutral oil to 170 C. Fry the chicken in two batches for 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until pale golden and cooked through. Rest on a rack for 3 minutes, then raise the oil to 190 C and fry again for 45 to 60 seconds, just until the outside is deeper brown and dry to the touch. The first fry cooks the meat. The second sets the surface, which keeps the rice from drinking oil.

   Use an instant-read thermometer if you're unsure. The center of the chicken should reach 74 C. Guessing at chicken is not a tradition worth preserving.
6. 6

   Season the hands

   Fluff the cooked rice with a shamoji, a rice paddle, and cover it with a damp cloth so it stays warm. Set out a bowl of water and the salt. Wet both hands, rub a pinch of salt across your palms, and take about 110g warm rice. The water keeps the grains from sticking to you, and the salt seasons the outside where the tongue meets the rice first.

7. 7

   Shape the onigiri

   Make a shallow cup of rice in one palm, set one piece of karaage in the center, and cover it with a little more rice if needed. Press gently into a triangle, turning the rice ball as you go so all three sides meet evenly. Don't squeeze. You're asking the grains to hold hands, not become one lump.

8. 8

   Wrap and serve

   Wrap each onigiri with a strip of nori and sprinkle with a few black sesame seeds if using. If you're packing them for later, cool the onigiri uncovered until no warmth is trapped, then wrap. For crisp nori, pack the strips separately and wrap just before eating. For bento, keep the rice balls cool and eat them the same day.

Chef Tips

• •Use chicken thigh for this. Karaage breast can be pleasant when eaten at once, but thigh stays juicy after cooling, which is why it belongs in a lunchbox.
• •Shape while the rice is warm, not hot and not cold. Hot rice burns your hands and crushes too easily. Cold rice won't cling, and then you start squeezing harder, which is how good rice becomes paste.
• •Drain the karaage on a rack, not paper towels alone. Paper traps oil against the crust, and that oil goes straight into the rice. A rack keeps the surface dry enough to tuck inside.
• •If shaping by hand makes you nervous, use plastic wrap for the first few. It is a sensible stand-in, especially for bento hygiene. Still salt the rice properly, or the onigiri will taste flat.
• •Don't close warm onigiri in a lunchbox. Cool them first, then pack. Good bento is practical before it is pretty.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken can be cut and the marinade mixed up to 1 day ahead, but combine them only 20 to 30 minutes before frying.
• •Karaage can be fried up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Rewarm it briefly in a toaster oven before shaping so the surface dries again.
• •Onigiri are best the day they are made. For meal prep, shape them without nori, cool completely, wrap individually, and refrigerate up to 24 hours or freeze up to 2 weeks. Rewarm until the rice softens, then add nori.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 175g)