Jan 23
2012

Making onigiri

Onigiri (“oh-nee-gee-ree”) are Japanese rice balls and today I’m going to show you how easy they are to make!  As I was working on the material for this post, I realized that I’ve been writing about onigiri for a long time on this little piece of the inter-webs of mine.  I’ve been writing about the topic long before this site was dedicated to food.  As far as I could find, my first post about onigiri was written when my blog was only 9 months old.  The first meal I ever ate in Japan included onigiriOnigiri have been one of Squirrel’s favorite things ever since she started eating solid foods, and she in turn taught Bug to love them.  These things should tell you something—yep, we love our onigiri (and all things that come with them)!

Squirrel loves her nori!

I love them even more for the fact that they are endlessly customizable and dead simple to make.

Hiding an olive as a surprise in an onigiri

After many requests, I finally got my act together and put together a video tutorial for you, showing you just how easy they are!  In addition, the newest episode of Miso Hungry is live and it’s all about . . . you guessed it, onigiri!!  So watch and learn and then go listen to all things onigiri!

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Today is Day 6 of the 12 Days of Endive!!

Day 6, 12 Days of Endive

If I have yet to convince of just how awesome endive is, then maybe Dr. Oz can!  Dr. Oz recently talked about endive as part of the arsenal that we should be building in the war against cancer.  Endive is one of four foods he listed that are known to be protective against cancer, specifically ovarian cancer.  Endive contains an element which, simply put, starves cancers by cutting off their blood supplyWatch more about endive and the anti-ovarian cancer diet.

* Disclosure: The 12 of Days of Endive is part of my ongoing work as an OnDiva for Discover Endive. As always, all opinions and thoughts are my own!

{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }

Sally January 23, 2012 at 9:51 am

I too LOVE onigiri – where do you get those cutters to make the little face? I’ve seen lots of similar faces on bento websites etc but didn’t realise how easy it was to make them – thought there were some people painstakingly cutting nori into teeny weeny smiles! Any suggestions on where to find them?

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Fuji Mama (Rachael) January 29, 2012 at 9:05 am

@Sally, Hi Sally, I actually bought those cutters in Japan. But you can find them on Amazon.com! Like these: http://www.amazon.com/CuteZcute-Seaweed-Nori-Punch-Decorating/dp/B006UXYUDO?tag=lafuma-20

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Hiragana Mama January 23, 2012 at 10:20 am

You’ve inspired me! I’m going to make onigiri for lunch today.

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Fuji Mama (Rachael) January 29, 2012 at 9:04 am

@Hiragana Mama, Yay! I hope you enjoyed them!

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Mika January 23, 2012 at 11:42 am

I would also love to know where you get those cutters!

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Fuji Mama (Rachael) January 29, 2012 at 9:04 am

@Mika, Hi Mika, I actually bought those cutters in Japan. But you can find them on Amazon.com! Like these: http://www.amazon.com/CuteZcute-Seaweed-Nori-Punch-Decorating/dp/B006UXYUDO?tag=lafuma-20

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Abigail (aka Mamatouille) January 23, 2012 at 2:30 pm

Cool video! Inspired me to get out all my molds again because my kids LOVE onigiri. Also just found out the younger one adores natto as well. Who knew?

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Fuji Mama (Rachael) January 29, 2012 at 9:01 am

@Abigail (aka Mamatouille), Thanks Abigail! It constantly amazes me what kids end up liking if we only give them the chance to try it! Kudos to you for not assuming that your kids aren’t going to like a certain item of food. XO

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Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar January 23, 2012 at 4:33 pm

So yummy! Love these!

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Fuji Mama (Rachael) January 29, 2012 at 9:00 am

@Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar, Thanks Katrina, let me know if you make them!

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Heidi / foodiecrush January 23, 2012 at 10:44 pm

Looks like your 7D is going to work! Love it, and love ongiri. I can’t find the images from our tofu making excursion, I need to dig deeper because I want to post them. Maybe you can do a tofu video?
XOXO

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Maureen January 24, 2012 at 1:17 am

I have never tried making this at home. you’ve convinced me it’s doable. :) Thanks for that!

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Fuji Mama (Rachael) January 29, 2012 at 8:59 am

@Maureen, Woot! Then I’m doing my job. :)

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Tone January 25, 2012 at 10:02 am

Nice video. Thanks for the demo.

I hope these onigiris were for you or your family; it looked like you licked your fingers and then continued to mold the rice ball.

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Fuji Mama (Rachael) January 25, 2012 at 10:04 am

@Tone — I had to rewatch the video to see what you were talking about, LOL! Actually I had a towel over my shoulder that I was wiping my fingers off on, but you’re right, it totally looks like I lick my fingers!! Luckily, either way, my daughters and I were the ones who ate the onigiri after we finished. :)

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Kim V. January 30, 2012 at 8:37 am

i watched your podcast, love it! and love the tired mama option :)

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Kim V. January 30, 2012 at 8:40 am

opps, i mean the how to make video, now off to the podcast!

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Faith April 20, 2012 at 8:30 am

Thanks for this video – I could never get mine triangluar making it by hand, but you made it look so easy, I’ll def try this.

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RaspberryT December 9, 2012 at 9:45 pm

You can get the Nori cutters from ebay (do a “All Departments” search on Nori Cutter/Punch). Or on this site: casabento.com/shop/en/603-cooking-japan-nori-punches?n=50&id_category=603, or from this lady: http://www.littlejapanmama.com/2012/05/buy-wink-smile-face-nori-punch.html.

HTH,
RaspberryT

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skeindalous March 10, 2013 at 4:53 pm

I used to loveto make Asian steamed dumplings…mine were Chinese influenced. Your pork buns bring back memories of delightful smells and tastes! Now I must keep to a gluten free diet. Any thoughts on making dimsum (or the Japanese counterpart) using GF ingredients? It would be wonderful to make these agian.

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Jasmine September 2, 2013 at 2:54 pm

what did you put in the rice for the olive onigiri?

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