Sancho Pork Onigiri - A Little Citrusy and Tingly Touch From the Japanese Spice

What do you usually get when visiting Japan? I'm sure lots of snacks and sweet treats might be involved. After all, Japanese really know how to make yummy cookies with awesome packaging design. It'll be very hard to resist the temptation grabbing extra boxes to take home with.

So on top of all the munches, I also got some local spices, such as the main flavoring agent - sancho pepper used in this rice ball recipe. It's similar to green peppercorn. However, the aroma is more pungent on the citrusy and even minty side instead of the actual spicy note. 

You'll find sancho pepper sometimes being used with grilled meat. Some fancy sushi places use it to for their hot dishes, providing an elegant yet distinct aroma. As for me, I've decided to add the sancho pepper to ground pork stir-fry, which can be enjoyed as a stand-alone dish, or later on being mixed into onigiri, all very delicious. 

Sancho pork onigiri - 

Ingredients (about 2 to 4 servings)?

• 2 to 4 portions steamed white rice (I mixed some quinoa in it)
• 310 grams ground pork (preferably leaner meat)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1/2 teaspoon sancho pepper 

How?

Precook the rice. Just make sure the rice temperature is about warm or even on the colder side when shaping into onigiri. Don't use steamy hot rice since there's too much moisture still. Peel and chop the garlic cloves.

Have a pan ready and drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil. Switch to medium heat, add in ground pork and chopped garlic. Stir-fry till the meat changes to whiter color.

Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of mirin. Mix till evenly blended. Stir-fry till reduced and the ground pork changes to even darker brown color.

Turn-off the heat then mix in 1/2 teaspoon of sancho pepper. Mix till blended and let the whole thing cool-off a little.

Scoop enough rice for the onigiri and mix in some ground pork mixture. For me the rice to pork ratio is about 3:1. Once blended together, form the rice into individual serving onigiri. 

Note that there should be some ground pork stir-fry leftover even if you made four big onigiri. It's unrealistic to stir-fry such small portion of pork just for the rice balls. But don't worry, any leftover pork stir-fry is actually quite easy to finish later on.

I simply served the sancho pork as one of the side dishes. If you'd like, you can also cook up some Asian noodles and use the sancho pork as flavoring ingredient. Just remember to add extra soy sauce or perhaps some black vinegar and chili sauce to boost up the savory touch.

Other onigiri recipes:

• Misoyaki onigiri 味噌焼きおにぎり
• Egg scallion and shio kombu onigiri 蔥蛋塩昆布日式飯糰
• Tuna and sesame oil rice balls (onigiri)
• Hijiki and inari age onigiri 羊栖菜豆皮飯糰