Onigiri (rice ball)

PRESENTER: Good morning ladies and gentleman. Welcome to our favorite cooking show "cook with us". I am Tom
Miller, your host.
Today's program, we will learn to make Onigiri, a Japanese typical snack. But first, before starting to cook, join me to know
more about this delicious food.
WHAT IS IT?
One of the best snack you can get in Japan is onigiri (that means rice ball in Japanese). Is very common in this country
and you can pick one or two from a hundred of choice of stuffing. It's really a lot!.
A good thing about this snack is much healthier than other things such as crisps, donuts, chocolate bars or a slice of
pizza.
For Japanese people, onigiri is like hotdogs for New Yorkers or sandwiches for English people. The way to eat it is exactly
the same than the food previously mentioned; you can munch it without interrupting what you are doing.
Onigiri are made for many occasions. School excursions, picnics, hanami (a kind of picnic under the cherry blossoms), to
eat it at the beach or while you are in a hiking. It's easy to carry, since the rice and the side dish are all in one. Also, it
gives you enough energy to carry on the rest of the day. Whoever invented this, definetly was a genius.
Onigiri is also called omusubi or nigirimeshi, depending of the region. In fact, onigiri is the most common name for rice
balls in Japan, but around Kanto-Tokaido area, omusubi is more common, although in Tokyo and Kanagawa prefecture,
people say onigiri. However, the different names also come from the shape.
HISTORY
The word onigiri comes from nigiru, which means squeeze. Onigiri can be in any shape as long as the rice is squeezed in
a shape.
In Lady Murasaki's 11th-century diary, Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, wrote about of people eating rice balls. At that time, onigiri
were called tonjiki and were often consumed at outdoor picnic lunches. Other writings, dating back as far as the
seventeenth century, explain that many samurai kept his rice balls wrapped in bamboo sheaths as a quick snack to eat it
at lunch time during war, but the onigiri origins are much previous than Lady Murasaki. Before the use of chopsticks
became widespread, in the Nara period, rice was often rolled into a small ball so that it could be easily picked up. In the
Heian period, rice was also made into small rectangular shapes known as tonjiki, so that they could be piled onto a plate
and easily eaten.
From the Kamakura period to the early Edo period, onigiri was consumed as a quick meal. So the cooks simply has to
think about making enough onigiri and they didn't have to worry about how to serve it. These onigiri were simply balls of
rice with salt flavor. Nori doesn't become widely available until the Genroku era in the mid-Edo period, when the farming of
nori and fashioning it into sheets became widespread.
INGREDIENTS
Rice (Most stores sell it labeled as: Japanese rice, sushi rice, sticky rice, or sweet rice.)
Fillings (tuna and mayo/beef and broccoli)
Water
Seaweed
Salt

PROCEDURE
1.- Follow the procedure for cooking the rice. Note it should be Japanese-style rice so it sticks together easily. However,
you might want to leave the rice in the pot for about 20 to 30 minutes before turning the rice cooker or pot on, so that the
rice can become sticky.
2.- Let the rice stand for a few minutes for it to cool down before proceeding. As you're waiting, make your fillings (if
applicable as this is optional). Whip tuna and mayo in a bowl, cut vegetables, meat, etc to kill some time.
3.- Place a cutting board or wax paper on the counter and wet your hands with salty water thoroughly. This is to keep the
rice from sticking to your hands (although some grains will still stick) and to keep your hands cool from the hot rice. Scoop
some rice with a spoon or scooper.
4.- Make a deep crater in the rice ball, but don't puncture it to the point that your fingers slip to the other side! This is
where your filling is going to go, so just deep enough to place things in.
5.- Insert your fillings into the hole. Make sure that you don't overfill it! Fold some rice over the hole/crater so that all fillings
are hidden. If you press too lightly, the rice won't stick together and will crumble as you eat it. If you press too hard, the
rice will get mushy and soggy. To make a triangle, make an "L" shape with your hand and use that to shape your rice with.
6.- Wrap nori (seaweed) around your onigiri. It's up to the person if they wish to use a strip or wrap the whole rice ball in
seaweed. The seaweed keeps your hands rice-free and keeps the rice ball in its shape.
7.- Wrap your onigiri in plastic wrap or place it into your bento box. Enjoy!
Bibliography:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Onigiri