Japan Navigator

Fast foods existed in Japan long before McDonalds arrived with its fattening hamburgers. My favorite type of such a traditional fast food is at the same time the most simple: the plain, old-fashioned rice ball.

Apart from a bowl of white rice in its original form, rice balls are probably the simplest rice dish. The name comes from nigiru, the sqeezing of the rice into a ball form. Another name is omusubi, from musubu, to bind together. The boiled rice is molded with the bare hands - which have been moistened to prevent the rice from sticking to the palms - into either triangular (sankaku), round (maru) or cylindrical (tawara, in the form of a traditional straw rice bag) balls.

[Onigiri from the supermarket]

The simplest and probably oldest form was where only the palm of the hand was lightly covered with salt to give taste to the rice ball - but this is a form you don’t see anymore - although salt may still be added in this way, there usually is a filling as well. A sheet of toasted laver (nori) is wrapped around the ball; alternatively, it may be sprinkled with sesame seed. Onigiri can also be covered with miso and then grilled.

As fillings usually ingredients with a strong salty or sour taste are used. Examples are:

• umeboshi (a pickled plum) or bainiku (the sieved flesh of the pickled plum, without the pit);
• sake or shiojake (fried, salted salmon);
• katsuobushi (dried and smoked bonito);
• tarako (cod’s roe, also called mentaiko);
• maguro (tuna)
• kombu (kelp)
• ebi mayo (shrimp and mayonaise)
• ikura (salmon eggs)
• chirimenjako (tiny young sardines)
• yakiniku (grilled meat)
• natto (fermented soy beans)
• kazunoko (prepared herring roe)

There is tendency for more “Westernized” onigiri to appear on the market: shrimp or tuna flavored with mayonaise, balls with chicken meat, and even beef! You also find more non-traditional nigiri without nori, so just consisting of the pressed rice: chahan (Chinese fried rice), ome-raisu (boiled rice flavored with tomato sauce wrapped in a thin omelet), gomoku (boiled rice flavored with vegetables and small pieces of meat).

Orginally, onigiri were typical homecooking, made from the left-over rice of the previous day. Elderly Japanese still wax sentimental when thinking about the rice balls made with tender and loving care by their mothers, and acquiring a special taste from the amino acids in her hand palms.

Rice balls are the perfect food for picnics or to take along on a hike. I also eat them regularly for lunch in the office. They have firmly replaced the cheese sandwiches I used to eat in Holland!

Do you like onigiri?