Yaki (or Grilled) Onigiri

[a_boleyn]

What tasty Japanese snack can you make with the following ingredients? Check under the cut. :)

Finished Onigiri - grilled onigiri with a strip of nori to hold onto the rice patty

Comments

[ext_877277]

Hi A_Boleyn - when I stayed in Japan they used to sell these in 7-Eleven, often with a little wrap of seaweed around it. I used to love to go down and buy some while my ex-girlfriend was at work - they're so fun to eat, and are perfect, portable lunches too! I never tried making them before to be honest, but you make it seem easy enough - Perhaps I'll surprise my wife with these for lunch one day - she'd really enjoy them I think!

[a_boleyn]

They are very portable. You can even freeze them individually in saran wrap/cling film and then microwave them wrapped before you want to eat them. Wrap up the seaweed separately so that it stays crisp and wrap it around the onigiri just before eating. A dollop of wasabi really hits the spot too. :)

I like the yaki onigiri better than just the plain ones especially fresh out of the frying pan when the crispy outside rice layer contrasts with the creamy rice inside. You have to make sure your filling is as dry as possible otherwise moisture leaks out while you're grilling and the onigiri starts to fall apart. That's what happened with my tuna-salad ones. You can also fill them with shredded japanese beef curry.

[anonymous]

Hi, what a great snack. I love Japanese rice especially with that little bit of vinegar. And these are perfect as a snack or served with any number of things I'm sure. From: http://hotlyspiced.com

[a_boleyn]

Other sites (blogs etc) give better instructions with diagrams of each step, but I figure this will at least expose people to the concept. And I had a craving for sushi in some form a couple of nights ago. :)

[anonymous]

Your onigiri look fantastic! I also almost always stuff onigiri with canned tuna mixture. You have made me seriously crave onigiri!! I have never grilled them, so thanks for the tips you gave Charles. I will make the filling as dry as possible. Sissi (http://www.withaglass.com)

[a_boleyn]

Thank you for the praise. The triangles aren't particularly triangular, I know, but I try every time I make them to make them better. :)

As to the grilling, I think it gives the onigiri a lot more flavour than just eating them plain, especially as you don't even have the seasoned rice vinegar to give the sushi rice a bit of zing if you don't fill them. And the moisture in the filling is the only reason I can think of that my onigiri start to fall apart the longer I grill them. The round ones stayed perfectly compact.

[ext_1024703]

This is something totally new to me, thank you for introducing me to a new dish.
Japanese recipes are always interesting,I am always tempted to try them but I never do
I should really change that

[a_boleyn]

I'm glad to hear that you found this dish interesting. There are several other Japanese dishes that I want to make one day ... beef curry (I have the cubes of paste/roux used to make them), okonomiyaki (cabbage based omelet) and the octopus balls, just off the top of my head. :)

These rice balls/patties are very easy as they only require cooking sushi rice. If you've never done that, check this post as well as the other posts tagged with 'japanese, rice or sushi' for other dishes you can make with them, like my inari sushi and donburi.

http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/76146.html#cutid1

[ext_870394]

Surprisingly I have several recipe requests to make yaki onigiri. I've been sort of reluctant to do the post because it's so easy to make and I assume not everyone would enjoy it....but maybe I was wrong. I see Charles enjoyed it and you also like it. That's enough "yes" I think. ;-)

[a_boleyn]

Yes it's easy but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people have never heard of this dish. And I'm sure your presentation/picture will be very impressive. I look forward to any tips and tricks you could suggest.