What do you usually snack on when feeling a wee bit hungry? Perhaps potato chips or few cookies, or even a small piece of cake? Well, I do munch on these delicious things once a while too, but recently I've also switched my attention to onigiri Japanese rice balls.
It's healthier I think, at least compared to fried chips or sweet stuff. Also with the right ingredients, onigiri can give you just enough energy and nutrition without loading up too much calories.
Komatsuna katsuobushi onigiri (Rice balls with Japanese mustard spinach and bonito flakes) -
Ingredients (about 4)?
- 4 portions steamed white rice
- 4 stalks or 120 grams komatsuna Japanese mustard spinach
- 1 cup or 100 grams katsuobushi bonito flakes
- 1 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Some sesame oil
How?
Cook the rice first, once done, fluff the grains and let cool till ok to handle by hand.
Have a big bowl ready and wipe the inside with some sesame oil. Just a thin layer to prevent sticking later on.
Komatsuna, or the Japanese mustard spinach, destem them. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil then add in the Japanese mustard spinach. It'll only take 30 seconds to a minute.
Once ready, drain and let cool a bit, then squeeze really hard to get rid of any moisture from the leafy greens.
After that, chop the Japanese mustard spinach and add to the oiled bowl. Also add 4 portions of cooked rice along with 1 loosely packed cup of katsuobushi, 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Lightly mix these ingredients till evenly blended.
Portion out the rice mixture to four equal parts, then form each one into individual onigiri rice ball.
You can either scoop the rice to the center of a sheet of cling foil, then grab the four ends of the foil and squeeze the ingredients into a ball, that's what I did actually.
Or you can lightly wet or grease both palms, and shape the ingredients with your bare hands. Ball shape or triangle shape, you decide. You can even wrap the rice ball with a sheet of nori if desired.
One last tip, when cooking the rice for onigiri, I personally think it's better to use a bit less than usual amount of water for the grains. That way you'll get a bouncier rice in the end. And that slightly "al dente" bite works really good for rice balls.
Other onigiri recipes:
- Sancho pork onigiri
- 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
- Hijiki and inari age onigiri 羊栖菜豆皮飯糰