Smoked salmon onigiri, using a mold: onigiri are among the simplest preparations made with sushi rice and often those who look up how to make onigiri start from easy versions like this. The Japanese bento — the tradition of the packed lunch — is particularly popular in the Land of the Rising Sun
and onigiri are among the most loved stars of bento boxes. They are small rice balls, usually triangular in shape, but also cylindrical or spherical, filled with various fillings and often decorated with strips of nori seaweed. I know the word onigiri might seem new to you, but I want to unlock a memory, especially if like me you were born in the ’70s or ’80s. Onigiri are in fact the famous triangular rice balls known as musubi, typical of Japanese cuisine and which we as children saw being devoured by the characters in Japanese cartoons. Onigiri are not difficult to make, but to give them a pretty and appealing look you can use those plastic molds sold online which are very cheap and practical. Today we’ll fill them with avocado and smoked salmon, but you can stuff them with vegetables, all kinds of cooked or raw fish and even canned tuna.
Let’s go to the kitchen to make our smoked salmon onigiri, but first I remind you that if you want to stay updated on my recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 30
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: International
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients to make smoked salmon onigiri
- 2 cups sushi rice
- 2 1/2 cups water
- to taste salt
- 2 avocados (ripe)
- 7 oz smoked salmon
- 2 sheets nori seaweed
Tools
- Pot
- Bowl
- Mold
Steps
Preparing the sushi rice
Place the rice in a bowl, cover it with cold water, rinse and drain it. Repeat this process 8-10 times or until the water runs clear, then transfer it to a pot and add the water, which should be 120% of the weight of the raw rice.
Put the lid on the pot, bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to the minimum and cook for 15 minutes, without stirring the rice and without ever removing the lid. After 20 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and let it rest still covered for 10 minutes; the rice will absorb all the steam this way (you must never open the lid during the entire procedure).
Prepare the hangiri, the traditional wooden container used to season the rice, by moistening it with a cloth or damp paper and move the rice into it. If you don’t have a hangiri, replace it with a shallow, wide container that is not stainless steel; I used a very large wooden plate, and let the rice cool slightly.
When slightly warm, cover the rice with a damp kitchen towel, this will prevent the rice from drying out; alternatively use damp baking paper or cheesecloth.
Peel and slice the avocado; if you bought a smoked salmon fillet, slice that as well.
Place a handful of rice into the wet onigiri mold, make an indentation in the center and place the filling, then close with more rice and cover with the second part of the mold.
Unmold your rice balls and decorate them with a strip of nori seaweed. Continue like this until all the ingredients are used up.
Storage notes and tips
I recommend consuming the onigiri within 24 hours and storing any leftovers in the refrigerator.
To obtain well-bound onigiri that are easy to shape, it’s important to use properly cooked sushi rice and work it while it is still warm, without pressing it too hard.
If you use an onigiri mold, lightly oil it or moisten it with water to prevent the rice from sticking.
Homemade onigiri can be filled with many different ingredients: besides smoked salmon, they are great with grilled vegetables, tuna, eggs or cooked fish.
For a more traditional version, you can wrap the onigiri with nori seaweed only at the moment of serving so they stay crisper.
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