I've adapted the recipe from a few places to come up with something that works for me. Now tested it out a fair few times so it's ready to be posted...
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sushi rice (I use SunRice brand)
- 1 small brown onion
- A handful of mushrooms (any kind will do; I use 4-5 button mushies)
- 2-3 pickled gherkins (yep, the ones in a jar)
- Small handful of frozen peas
- 2ish tbsp Mirin
- 1ish tbsp soy sauce
- 1ish tbsp rice vinegar
- Furikake to sprinkle on top (I use a vegetarian version. Cut nori sheets would work too, or no seasoning at all... they're still good)
Rice Preparation:
The full article on rice prep (including photos) is over here, but I cheat a little with the timing, and use a rice cooker (check the packet instructions if you don't have one).
- Rinse your rice like you've never rinsed rice before - put it all in a saucepan with running cold water, swishing with your fingers, then tipping out water and doing it again - over and over and over until the water runs clear.
- Set it aside in a strainer to drain for at least 30mins.
- Put it into your rice cooker (turned OFF) with 3 cups of cold water. Cover and leave to soak for at least 30mins.
- Turn ON the rice cooker and let it do its thing. Usually about 15mins but might vary.
- Turn OFF the rice cooker (i.e. don't leave on "keep warm" setting) and leave rice to cool for a few mins. Your rice is now ready to use.
Filling Preparation:
This is the bit I made up, but it works really well. There are some other filling ideas over here.
- Finely chop the onion, mushrooms, gherkins and pop into a small saucepan.
- Add the peas and sauces (mirin, soy and rice vinegar) then keep stirring until everything is warm and sauce has reduced a little (about 10mins).
- Take it off the heat and place in a small bowl, ready for serving.
Putting Together:
Someone else has already explained this better than I can, so go ahead and read their post then come back. In case the link ever disappears, here are the basic steps:
- Using a smallish bowl (8cm diameter or thereabouts), line it with Glad Wrap (i.e. cling film) so it overhangs the edge by quite a lot.
- Pop a pinch of salt in.
- Spoon in a good dollop of the cooked rice (almost a full cup, depending on how big you want your onigiri to be).
- Press down in the centre with a teaspoon so the rice gently spreads with a hole in the middle, but don't pierce through to the bottom.
- Spoon in 1-2 teaspoons of your filling.
- Gather the Glad Wrap and pull it out of the bowl so you can shape the ball, ideally so the rice encapsulates the filling in a triangular-ish shape.
- Gently unwrap the Glad Wrap and place onigiri on your plate.
- Sprinkle with furikake or just leave as is.
- Eat!
