Onigiri

Onigiri – the Japanese Rice Ball snack – is a very popular street snack in Japan, made with sticky rice, nori, and some type of filling. It’s meant to be eaten on-the-go, a tidy package of deliciousness wrapped in a cute seaweed swaddle.

We tried the Bacon and Asparagus and the Yakmeshi Onigiri. The former was a delicious combination; the salty bacon and crisp asparagus blended perfectly with the nori. The latter was also tasty, although it really is just fried rice wrapped in seaweed. We found that having your rice cooled gave a much better result, as hot rice made the nori soft and stretchy, whereas cooled rice kept it crisp. I would have appreciated more detailed instructions on how to wrap the Onigiri with some of the varied wrapping techniques; although I’m sure with practice wrapping will become easier, my initial foray was a bit disheartening – and messy! Additionally, while this is a brilliant way to use up leftover rice, starting out making the rice and then using it specifically to make the snacks is a bit of a time sink. Overall however, I enjoyed learning about and trying out this new food.