I recently discovered onigirazu and have been making it lately! It’s a play on the Japanese rice ball, onigiri and is actually an old fad that has become popular again. It looks kind of like a flattened sushi roll and has a similar idea to an onigiri: it’s some sort of filling inside salted sushi rice.
There’s two main reasons why I prefer the onigirazu now:
- Easier and less messy to make! With onigiri, you typically use your hands to mold the rice ball. With onigirazu, you just layer the ingredients inside of the seaweed.
- More filling! If you stuff too much filling inside of an onigiri, it’s hard to put together and can fall apart. Because onigirazu is larger and is held together with a seaweed wrap, it can hold much more inside.
I like packing it as a lunch to bring to work, and it’s pretty filling too. Even though I’ve been making two at a time, I actually start getting full after the first one. (I’m making less next time…) It’s also nice that it’s flexible because it’s simply seaweed, sushi rice, and then a filling of your choice.
I’m going to show how to make it!
1. Make and season your sushi rice.
First, you need to make sushi rice and work with it while it’s still warm. For two onigirazu, I use about 1/2 cup of sushi rice and 3/4 cup water. Put both in a pot on a stove, and cook on high until the water boils. Then cover the pot and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes (until the water is absorbed). Afterwards, simply season with salt. (Does not need rice vinegar or sugar like in sushi.)
2. Set a square piece of seaweed on saran wrap.
I buy a pack of seaweed that is already in squares. (I think they’re sized for hand rolls.)
3. Add a layer of sushi rice.
4. Add your filling.
For this onigirazu, I used lettuce and chicken that has been seasoned with sweet chili sauce, sriracha, and fish sauce.
On this one, I used lettuce, turkey, mayo, ham, and a scrambled egg. (This one is really tasty!)
5. Add another layer of sushi rice.
6. Fold up the corners to close the onigirazu.
I am terrible at this part! As long as it covers everything, you are ok, even if it isn’t very pretty 😉
7. Hold it together with saran wrap, and let it sit.
You’ll want it to sit for 5-10 minutes, so everything sticks together.
8. Cut onigirazu in half.
Tada! That’s it!
Depending on the filling, this can be a great thing to pack if you don’t have access to a refrigerator or microwave at work or school. On the turkey, ham, and egg one, I refrigerated it the night before, but when I took it to work, I just left it on my desk so it’d get to room temperature before eating.
I love bringing onigirazu to work now! It’s easy to make the night before and holds up well. I’m looking into other fillings for it and will share others that I enjoy later 😀
Oh, yum! That looks really tasty and easier to do than an onigiri. I’m almost tempted to just add another seaweed sheet on top instead of folding the thing. Then it’d be like a seaweed sandwich! 😀
That looks so yummy! I’ve been trying to eat better recently – and I’ve been looking for exciting things to bring with me to work, rather than just popping to a coffee shop! I’d love to give this a try – though I think it will take some practice to get them looking as good as yours! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Now i want to try this! This looks so yum and i haven’t tried making onigirazu before.
sarahrizaga.blogspot.com
Onigirazu looks like a seaweed sandwich! This looks awesome and delicious! I always find it hard to eat from an onigiri but having the seaweed wrapping everything makes everything seem a lot easier to manage. Would you consider seasoning your onigirazu with sesame seeds? I’m always crazy about them for some reason ;). I am digging how easy it is to make this! I’ll try to make a variation of this sometime in the future :D. Thanks for sharing~
haha, it really is like a seaweed sandwich. You should try it! If you like sesame seeds, I bet they’d go well in an onigirazu. I don’t like them as much, so I probably wouldn’t use them in mine 🙂
Unfortunately, I probably wouldn’t like it much. I am such a picky eater, but my husband would devour it! He loves asian cuisine and isn’t as picky as me. I was raised on Salvadorian food and thus, I’m not keen to things that are different, but I at least try things such as sushi (which was okay) once, but since I’ve tried seaweed, I’m not keen on it.
😀
Ahhh looks super delicious! My boyfriend is such a fan of nori, so I honestly think that he’d enjoy this one. 😀
I’m going to try this out! Looks like something super easy to make in batches over the weekend. 😀
This looks really cool! I like how easy it is to be made handheld and portable for lunches. What suggestions would you make for a vegetarian version? Rice, avocado? I want to make this on my own!
I’ve been thinking of making a vegetarian one! I’m wondering if it’d taste good with zucchini or eggplant. I’ll have to try a couple and report back 🙂
oh now this I have to try – I fell in love with sushi a couple of years ago and my mouth is watering reading this. Thank you for the step-by-step… I’m totally going to check out local stores for seaweed and sushi rice… wish me luck?!
that looks delicious!
It looks sooo good. I bought the stuff to try it today! Thanks for the tutorial!
such a good idea! i love onigiri for quick lunch but this is probably a lot faster and easier to make. wow. this looks like a japanese sandwich or something :)) it’s so flattened it’s funny xD
Ooo this looks good!! I believe we may have some seaweed left over from attempts at making sushi and some sushi rice sauce thing as well. I’m totally going to try this. Even a terrible cook like myself can do this, right? ….right?!
I’ve been seeing your photos on Instagram and was wondering when you’d share a recipe! I’m so glad you did and it sounds really simple! I’m heading to my Asian supermarket this week to pickup some ingredients, can’t wait to make this myself 😀
I know this is an older post but I just had to make a comment anyway. I will have to try this. It looks like a great substitute to bread, since I’m going gluten free. I was wondering what I should do, and I’ll be damn, Nori is on my green list. Woot! I look forward to experimenting with this.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve never seen that before, i think it’s a nice alternative to the shape as it’s easier to pack/add more filling.
This is such a neat idea! It’s so much more convenient than onigiri. I’m going to pack these for lunch!
Do you wash rinse and soak the rice like when making sushi rice? Or can you get away with less prep for onigirazu? Can’t wait to try this 🙂
You can wash the rice if you’d like to, but you don’t have to 🙂 I typically put both the rice and water in the pot immediately and start cooking them.