Okaka Onigiri (おかかおにぎり, bonito-soy rice ball)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rice cooker, or a heavy pot with a tight lid
• •Rice paddle (shamoji), or a broad wooden spoon
• •Small bowl for okaka
• •Bowl of water and small dish of salt for shaping

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the rice

   Put the rice in a bowl, cover it with cool water, stir quickly with your hand, and pour the cloudy water away at once. Repeat until the water runs almost clear, then drain the rice for ten minutes. You're washing off loose surface starch, not scrubbing the grain bare. Too much starch on the outside makes the rice gummy instead of glossy.

   Wash it twice, wash it thrice if the water still clouds. Stop when it is nearly clear, not perfectly clear.
2. 2

   Cook the rice

   Add the drained rice and water to a rice cooker and cook on the plain white-rice setting. For a pot, combine rice and water, soak twenty minutes, cover, bring to a boil, lower the heat, cook fifteen minutes, then rest off the heat ten minutes without lifting the lid. The rest matters because the moisture finishes moving through the grains, giving you rice that holds together without turning heavy.

3. 3

   Mix the okaka

   Put the katsuobushi in a small bowl and sprinkle the soy sauce over it. Mix with chopsticks until the flakes darken and cling together in soft tufts. They should be damp, not wet. Too much soy leaks into the rice and makes the center harsh; too little leaves dry flakes that taste flat.

   The first secret is restraint. Okaka is bonito carried by soy, not bonito drowned in soy.
4. 4

   Loosen and cool

   Open the rice cooker or pot and fold the rice gently with a rice paddle, lifting from the bottom and turning it over without mashing. Let it stand uncovered for two or three minutes, just until you can handle it. Warm rice is supple and sticky in the right way; cold rice resists shaping and cracks at the edges.

5. 5

   Salt your hands

   Set out a bowl of water and a small dish of salt. Wet your palms lightly, shake off the excess, and rub a small pinch of salt across both hands. The water keeps the rice from clinging to you, and the salt seasons the outside of the onigiri, where your tongue meets it first.

   Don't soak your hands between every rice ball. Damp hands help; wet hands make the surface loose.
6. 6

   Fill and shape

   Scoop about one-quarter of the warm rice into one palm, make a shallow hollow in the center, and tuck in one-quarter of the okaka. Cover the filling with the surrounding rice. Shape it into a triangle by cupping one hand into a roof and pressing with the other, turning the rice ball three times. Press just firmly enough for it to hold. An onigiri is gathered, not clenched.

   If triangles feel fussy, make rounds. The honmono is in the warm rice, salted hands, and centered filling, not in winning a geometry contest.
7. 7

   Wrap and serve

   Wrap each onigiri with a strip of yaki-nori if using, or serve the nori alongside so it stays crisp. Eat them warm or at room temperature. For a picnic, let the surface cool before wrapping, pack them with a cold pack if they will sit more than a short while, and eat them the same day.

Chef Tips

• •Use Japanese short-grain rice. Long-grain rice may be lovely in its own house, but it won't gather properly here, and you'll fight the dish from the first handful.
• •Open the katsuobushi packet only when you're ready to mix the filling. The aroma is the point, and it fades quickly once the flakes meet the air.
• •Start with less soy than you think. You can add a few more drops, but you can't take them back once the okaka turns wet.
• •For bento or picnic packing, keep the nori separate until eating if you want it crisp. Wrapped early, it softens into the rice, which is also good, just a different pleasure.

Advance Preparation

• •The rice is best cooked just before shaping. If you already have freshly cooked warm rice, the onigiri takes about ten minutes.
• •You can measure the katsuobushi ahead, but mix it with soy sauce just before filling so the flakes stay fragrant.
• •Onigiri is best the day it is made. For a picnic, wrap each rice ball once the surface has cooled, pack with a cold pack for longer holding, and eat within the day.
• •To freeze, wrap plain filled onigiri without nori. Reheat from frozen until warm through, then add nori just before eating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 175g)