| Subject: Re: How to make onigiri |
Author:
Dena
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Date Posted: 10:02:27 07/11/03 Fri
In reply to:
lilgumba
's message, "How to make onigiri" on 15:38:44 07/10/03 Thu
>Ever since the onigiri sale at JAC I want some. I want
>to know how to make some...specifically the tuna or
>spicy tuna one that was made. I don't need the seaweed
>really...plain rice would do. What do I need to make
>it? How do I make it? Do I need a rice cooker?
Rice cookers are handy but not essential. (I just can't get rice to turn out the right texture when I try it on the stove; the electric stove's hard to judge with. I like a rice cooker for its "throw in rice and water and hit a button"-ness. Plus they have 3-cup rice cookers (which are a good size for one person) for about $15-$20 at those kitchen and bathroom stores up on N. Prospect...)
More important than a rice cooker is getting the right type of rice. Minute Rice and Uncle Ben's just don't work. Go to Am-ko and get some Botan Calrose or Nishiki rice -- it's shorter grain than the American concept of rice and has a different starch ratio. They have small bags (2 lbs ish) or big ones (anywhere up to 25 lbs). I typically get a 5 or 10 lb bag and (except for the onigiri blowout) it lasts several months.
So anyhow:
1) Get yourself some short-grain rice. Wash it in a bowl -- fill the bowl with cool water and swish the rice around gently. The water will get milky; drain the water off and wash it again until the water is mostly clear, sometimes 3-4 washings. They have handy rice washers at Am-ko which are bowls with slots in a pour-spout in one side which cost like $2ish, but I made do for years with a regular bowl and a wire strainer to catch the rice that got away.
2) Cook your rice using the amount of water recommended for the method you're using (rice cookers want different amounts than on-the-stove directions use). One cup of dried rice turns into about 2.5-3 cups of cooked rice, so I generally get a couple meals out of one cup.
2b) If you have a rice cooker, let the rice steam with the lid on it for about 15-20 minutes after it switches itself off -- when the switch goes off it's not completely done cooking, and it'll be too wet and soggy at that point. But leave the lid on because the moisture needs to absorb into the rice.
2c) While the rice is cooking, get the rest of your ingredients together. Umeboshi generally come with seeds in them, so take the seeds out or you're going to get quite a surprise. For tuna fillings, I make it kind of like tuna salad -- I drain a can of tuna and add a little Miracle Whip to make it a little easier to handle; for spicy tuna I add a few drops of something like Tabasco or Cajun Sunshine and taste-test to make sure it's got enough kick without ripping your head clear off. ^^;;
3) After the steaming time is done, scoop out some of your rice into something broad and shallow like a 9x13 pan and sprinkle lightly with salt. (Put the lid back on the section you haven't used to keep it warm; cold rice doesn't make good onigiri.) If you're making furikake-type onigiri (with the sprinkles), add those now; if not, just cut the rice up with a paddle so it steams a little and is less hot to handle.
4) If you're making them completely by hand, get a bowl of cool water with a little salt in it to dip your hands and rice paddle in. Dip one hand and rub it together with the other; you don't want your hands dripping, just damp and cooled enough not to get scorched.
Get a handful of rice (about 1/4-1/2 cup) and shape it into a loose ball, then stick a finger in one side and put a spoonful of your filling into the middle of it and shape the snowball closed.
Some people make them round, some make them triangular, some make them cylindrical, some use molds to shape flowers and stuff -- whatever floats your boat.
If you don't want to handle them all/if it's a little too hot to handle, get a piece of plastic wrap and put it over a cereal bowl, then put a blop of rice in the middle of the plastic wrap and gather up the ends and twist it; you can quick-shape it into a ball that way without having to scorch your hands as much. Then untwist the plastic wrap and stick your filling inside the onigiri and re-wrap it.
That's about it; I could add a list of possible fillings and possible decorations sometime if y'all like... ^__^
I want to do an onigiri fest sometime this fall too; will have to see how the fall semester goes to figure out exactly when. (I hope to make it a smaller-scale deal than the one where we cooked 25 lbs of rice for the blowout though! That was just too much onigiri...)
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