Japanese rice balls filled with salted grilled salmon and wrapped in crisp nori. Perfect for lunch boxes and picnics.
About this Japanese recipe
Onigiri are Japan’s everyday portable food, sold in every convenience store and packed into school lunches. Well-cooked short-grain rice and damp, salted hands are the keys to shaping them.
Ingredients you will need
The main ingredients are japanese short-grain rice, water, salmon fillet, salt, toasted sesame seeds, nori. Exact quantities are in the recipe card below.
How long it takes
Allow 1 hr 5 min in total: 20 min of preparation, 15 min of cooking and 30 min of resting, chilling or soaking. The recipe serves 6.
Salmon Onigiri
Japanese rice balls filled with salted grilled salmon and wrapped in crisp nori. Perfect for lunch boxes and picnics.
Ingredients
Method
- Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Soak in the measured water for 30 minutes, then cook in a rice cooker or covered pan.
- Salt the salmon lightly and grill for 8–10 minutes until cooked. Flake, removing skin and bones, and mix with the sesame seeds.
- Let the rice cool until you can handle it. Wet your hands and rub them with a little salt.
- Take a handful of rice, make a dent, add a spoonful of salmon and cover with more rice.
- Press gently into a triangle, turning it in your hands 4–5 times.
- Wrap with a strip of nori just before eating so it stays crisp.
Notes
Salting your hands rather than the rice seasons only the outside, which is exactly how onigiri should taste.