Food Makes Me Happy

Sep 23, 2015

A New Type of Japanese Rice Balls, Not Onigiri, but "Onigirazu" (おにぎらず)

Onigiri is the common Japanese rice ball formed by both hands, you can find more detailed descriptions from one of my old recipes here: Japanese onigiri two ways.

"Onigirazu" on the other hand, is more like a rice sandwich. You make it by layering up ingredients on the cling foil then wrap everything by bringing all four foil corners together to tighten the ingredients. The encased rice ball will then cut in half, showing all the nicely layered ingredients just like a sandwich.

Still confused? Hope these step-by-step pictures will help a little.

Onigirazu two ways using Chinese ingredients -

Ingredients (1 to 2 portions)?

2 cups white rice
2 large dried seaweed sheets
2 lettuce leaves
1 Cheddar cheese square
1 Chinese fried flour stick
Some Taiwanese dried radish and salted black beans stir fry
Some fish floss
Some kimchi

How?

Cook about 2 cups of white rice. The actual amount depends on the size of the dried seaweed sheets.

Lay a sheet of cling foil on the surface and put one dried seaweed sheet in the center. Scoop some rice to the center.

I used too much rice so it can get tricky when folding in the seaweed. First timers, try to start with smaller amount of rice at least for few rounds of practices, otherwise the onigirazu might explode when attempting to fold in the corners..

There are two flavors, one using fish floss and Chinese fried flour stick; the other one utilizing some kitchen leftover with additional lettuce and cheese. The pictures below use fish floss onigirazu as example. After laying and flattening out some rice, add a layer of fish floss, top with Chinese fried flour sticks then one more layer of fish floss again -

Finish with one more layer of white rice. The key here is try to start and finish with layers of rice.

Fold in all four seaweed sheet corners, making sure no ingredients are peeking through. You'll see why starting out with smaller amount of rice is a good idea. To me, folding in all the corners without the rice ball exploding is the hardest part.

Bringing in all the cling foil corners and tighten them up so the seaweed rice ball stays firm and tidy -

Wait for five minutes before cutting.

Dip the knife in hot water and dry with a kitchen towel. Cut the onigirazu in half with cling foil attached. Once done, you can leave the foil to better hold up the shape or remove before serving.

Here're the layers for my second onigirazu, start from the bottom:
Seaweed sheet, rice, ground pork stir fry, lettuce, kimchi, Cheddar cheese square, lettuce, ground pork stir fry, rice.

Sounds like a lot and it sure took me quite an effort to keep the rice ball from exploding. The final product was worth it though, packed with flavors, savory ground pork, spicy kimchi, creamy cheese, and all.

Onigirazu is gaining its popularity recently especially it's easier to make compared to onigiri. As long as you get a hang of the portion that can withhold by the seaweed, you'll have even more fun trying to mix and match all sorts of ingredients. The best part follows after cutting the onigirazu in half, seeing all the work comes to life with these pretty and appetizing layers.

Stay tuned for more flavor varieties. You can also explore some other possibilities and create colorful layers by using carrot, cucumber, ham, corn, and more. Let you be the artist.

Other bento recipes:

Sep 16, 2015

Japanese Curry Nabe for Two - To Make It Even Better? Top It with an Egg

Curry is one of my all time comfort food. My mom once told me that I even ate it for 7 days straight when I was a kid, never get sick of it. My appetite for this Japanese food keeps expanding and now to a point where a plate of curry rice can only scratch the surface.

How can I enjoy more curry sauce in one meal? Nabe/hot pot it is! One whole pot of curry sauce all for myself! Oops, I mean for two people.

Japanese curry nabe for two -

Ingredients (for two)?

Soup base:

1 onion
1 carrot
6 cups low sodium chicken stock
4 curry cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Others (mix and match per your likings):

2 packs instant udon
1 egg
Some bac choy
Some lettuce
Some triangle shaped fried tofu
Some maitake mushroom
Some lamb slices

How?

Drizzle enough olive oil to evenly coat the bottom of the stock pot. Turn to medium high heat and add in peeled, sliced onion. Sprinkle some salt and pepper then give it a quick stir.

Cook till the edges of the onion slices turned slightly burned. Add in peeled, cubed carrot and cook for another 15 minutes using medium heat. I specially diced the carrot into smaller cubes so it gets cooked through and softened faster.

Pour in the chicken stock. Bring to a boil then turn to medium heat to keep it at a light bubbling condition, cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. Add in the curry cubes and keep stirring gently till the cubes have been fully melted with no lumps present.

Use another pot that will be brought to the dining table. Scoop enough curry stock for two people to the serving pot and turn to medium heat.

Carefully arrange the hot pot ingredients around. Usually I would put leafy greens along the edge with harder texture items such as mushrooms and tofu in the inner layer. Add the udon to the center then arrange the meat slices around.

Cover with lid or not, cook for about 2 minutes. Separate the udon gently.

Break one egg and add to the center of the pot. Cover with lid and cook for another 30 seconds before serving. Scoop more stock into the pot if desired.

Pay attention here, if using beef slices, it might be better adding the meat to the pot when the egg goes in. That way the beef slices will be semi-cooked through while the egg is ready. By the time you start eating, the beef will be at a perfect tender stage with slightly pinkish color in the center.

Meat is always good, but the tofu that soaked up all the curry juice is the best.

Other Japanese food recipes: