Recipe - Onigiri (Rice Balls)

One half pound Salmon fillet
4 cup Uncooked shortgrain rice
5 Three fourths cup Water
2 Sheets dried nori seaweed;
or pretoasted nori sheets
2 lg Pitted pickled plums;
coarsely chopped
One fourth cup Dried bonito flakes
1 One half teaspoon Dark soy sauce
2 tablespoon Black sesame seeds; toasted

Sprinkle the salmon fillet with salt and let stand for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, wash the rice thoroughly in cold water 30 to 60 minutes before
cooking and let drain in colander. Place rice and water in a heavy, tightly
covered pot over mediumhigh heat. When water just begins to boil, turn the
heat to high and let it come to a vigorous boil. Reduce the heat to low and
cook until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice, about 12 to 13 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let the rice stand, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes.

Using a flat wooden spoon or rice paddle, fluff the rice with a cutting
motion. Stretch a towel under the lid and cover tightly to keep warm until
ready to use.

Toast the nori sheets over a high gas flame, and cut crosswise into 1inch
wide strips, or use pretoasted nori.

Mix the bonito flakes with the soy sauce.

Rinse the salt off the salmon, pat dry, and grill for 3 to 5 minutes. Use a
fork to break the salmon into small pieces.

Wet your hands with salted water to keep the rice from sticking to your
hands. Cup one hand and place a handful of rice, about One half cup, in your
hand. Make an indentation in the rice and tuck in one of the fillings: a
teaspoon of soaked bonito flakes, a few flakes of salmon, or a few pieces
of pickled plum. Close the rice over the filling and mold it into a
triangular shape. Mold the rice firmly, pressing just hard enough to hold
it together. Set the rice triangle down on one of its sides and cover the
top peak with a strip of nori, shiny side out, like a roof. You can also
make cylindrical shapes and wrap the nori around the middle. Sprinkle
sesame seeds over the rice shapes. These are great lunch treats.

Yield: about 8 triangles TAMALES WORLD TOUR SHOW #WT1A01

Recipe by: Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken

Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #807 by Holly Butman
butma001@acpub.duke.edu on Sep 25, 1997