My kids love Asian food. Like, they won’t try a lot of American food, they don’t do cheese and are generally pretty picky, but will eat Asian food. They love rice and seaweed, and so a few years ago I thought I would try out Onigiri on them. They loved them immediately! Sometimes I filled them with smoked salmon. My oldest isn’t the biggest fan of it, but I think that’s because the salmon I got last time just chicken of the sea brand and my husband said it tasted like tuna. Lesson learned, go for something good! My youngest didn’t mind, though!
So what you will need is seaweed (either the sheets or the little packs will work), sweet (or glutenous) rice, and some seasonings, if you prefer.
I use my instant pot to make the rice on the basic rice setting. Its the easiest and fastest way. Don’t get me wrong, I have done it the proper way of soaking the rice overnight and then steaming in in a rice basket. It just takes a lot of forethought, and I kinda suck at that. With the instant pot, you just put in equal parts rice and water, slap the lid on and set it to rice. I usually do like 4 cups a rice, because I like to make a bunch and freeze them. I have a lot of different rice ball shapers, but the one that does like 6 at a time, is my favorite.
You spray the container with an oil, scoop the rice in there, overfilled a bit, and then push the lid on. Then you can just flip them out. Then you will add some rectangles of seaweed. I then will either sprinkle on some Fruikake seasoning to the outside or roll the edge in the seasoning. I get mine from the Asian market, but I also just found some at Trader Joe’s, too!
I use to wrap them in plastic wrap when I was done and let them cool a bit before putting them in ziplock bags into the freezer. They don’t hold us well in the fridge, so the freezer is the best way to store them. I generally defrost them a bit before putting them into my kids’ lunch boxes, otherwise they don’t get all the way defrosted the girls have said. I did recently find cute onigiri wrappers for cheap on Temu, and they work pretty great!
These look amazing! Does freezing alter the taste or texture at all, and how long do they take to defrost. I love onigiri, but my family isn’t too keen, so making a batch and freezing seems to be a really good idea.
I don’t think they make a brown sweet rice. At least I’ve never seen it. The texture seems to be fine after defrosting. I usually will put it on defrost for 1.5 minutes or on half power for a minute.
My kids flat out don’t eat sandwiches. Making their lunches is so obnoxious, and I have to get creative. My oldest won’t eat a lot of protein, except like pot sticks or hard boiled eggs or maybe just plain lunch meat. The little one prefers just lettuce and lunch meat and no bread. Stinkers all around!
That looks great, and a good non-sandwich solution for lunch boxes. Good tip about freezing. I know the fridge dries the rice out, so they don’t hold well, I’ll have to try the freezer.
The shaper that makes 6 at a time looks like a great time saver, and the wrappers are super cute, I’ll keep an eye open for them next time I do a silly shopping spree
My daughter also love Asian food, she’s been getting a lot of smaller onigiri in her lunch box. I usually make them small and round, so they are easy to eat in a couple of bites, and also because she likes sharing with her friends. I fill them with avocado most of the time, but also had good success with salmon (following the salmon part of this recipe: Best Salmon Onigiri Recipe - Step-by-Step).
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(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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I have quite a few molds for rice from my mother. She used to make onigiri and other fun things for us to take for lunch. I have used brown rice. It is Japanese brown rice or Hatsuga Genmai. It has a sweet nutty taste but molds well for sushi or onigiri. I bet you can find it at most Asian markets.
That being said, I think it is awesome how people are trying foods from around the world! I think it is great that your kids like Asian food, @jillybeans , and that you encourage it with your fun cooking!
