Onigiri! Girigiri!

I bought some mentaiko the other day wanting to make onigiri, those tasty balls of rice wrapped in seaweed with fillings of your choice. Finally, I got around to making a quickie lunch out of them! Boy, talk about playing with your food! First time I tried (months ago) to make them was a disaster. While they were easier to make this time (found a new technique), I still need to tweak my method a bit for more uniform filling dispersion. I don't like it *all* in the middle but a bit more spread out though that's the way I usually find it. I also found my rice on the bland side. Onigiri I've purchased has what seems to be slightly flavored (salted?) rice? I'm not sure what...just not so bland even when eaten without the filling and just seaweed.


I was able to just about make 4 onigiri as I didn't make enough rice. Only two stomachs to feed, and I didn't want leftovers. Two had a salted olive leaf filling (one of my favorite "pickles" to eat):


One had the mentaiko (spicy cod roe) with Kewpie mayo which is one of my favorite onigiri fillings. I definitely didn't put enough in though:


And the last one had pieces of cha shu (aka char siu aka bbq pork). This one sort of fell apart as it was being eaten, hence no pics. It truly was a quick meal to make and eat and certainly smelled and tasted better than play-doh. I'd love to have a lunch/dinner onigiri theme where all the potential fillings are on the table and the diners make their own. What fun! And what a mess. ;)

Some fillings I'd like to try in the future both traditional and not so traditional: unagi (roasted eel), sake (salted salmon), kimuchi (kim chi), curry whatever, other bbq or grilled meat/fish, seaweeds, japanese pickles, soy-sauce simmered hard-boiled egg, spicy raw tuna, chinese sausages, avocado, spicy roasted eel, spam, spam and egg, canned tuna with soy sauce, bonito flakes with soy sauce, marinated tofu, flavored seitan, fish/pork floss (aka fish/pork sung) ....ah, the possibilities are endless!! Next time, maybe I'll try toasting the whole onigiri! =9~ That's actually best for leftover onigiri...baste it with some soy sauce first...mmm...