How to make rice balls. Rice balls baked in the oven

Onigiri is a very common Japanese dish that looks like balls or voluminous triangles of rice with various fillings. Most often, onigiri is additionally wrapped in dried seaweed, lettuce, and sometimes in an omelette or thinly sliced ham.

A little history

Onigiri was originally exclusively a peasant food that commoners took to work in the fields. Since old Japan was an exclusively agricultural country, this type of food became widespread. Even aristocrats began to take the prototype of onigiri - tonjiki - when going on a picnic or hunting. In our time of blurring borders and increased interest in national characteristics, art and cuisine of different peoples, onigiri, as well as sushi, pizza or pancakes, are known in almost every corner of the world.

By the way, these rice balls are in no way related to sushi, since only unleavened rice is used for its preparation (unlike sushi).

Common to all recipes

Before you cook the rice balls, you need to prepare the rice properly. The cereal is thoroughly washed under running cold water until the flowing liquid is clear. Washed rice is boiled in salted water. It should become soft, but not boiled. When ready, drain the water, transfer the rice to a colander and let it cool slightly.

Most times when rice balls are made, the recipe calls for dried seaweed. They can be replaced with more accessible greens: parsley, arugula, mint or sorrel. Many recipes and tips on how to make rice balls use one or another filling that is not mixed with the rice, but placed inside. This is done simply: a deep hole is made in a ball formed from rice, where the desired mixture is carefully placed with a teaspoon. After this, the hole with minced meat needs to be sealed. The ball is slightly kneaded and rolled in your hands to compact the finished onigiri.

The simplest onigiri

Even a person who is very far from cooking can prepare such rice balls. Cook a saucepan with freshly cooked rice for 15 minutes. wrap it in something warm (plaid, blanket, terry towel), finely chop the greens, heat the sesame seeds for 5 minutes in the oven. Add greens to the steamed rice, and salt if necessary. Form balls, roll in sesame seeds, serve with any sauce.

Onigiri and vegetable sauce

Here are the other rice balls, Japanese ones. Their recipe is as simple as the previous one, and the highlight is the sauce.

Form the cooked rice into balls, roll them in flour and fry them evenly in oil. For the sauce, cut hot red pepper, zucchini, bell pepper, leek into strips and fry them in vegetable oil. After this, pour in a quarter cup of classic soy sauce, add salt, add spices to taste, squeeze out the garlic - a couple of cloves - and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Place the onigiri into the vegetable sauce and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring gently.

Rice balls with cheese

Let's move on to the next dish. These original Japanese rice balls (a recipe in which rice is successfully combined with cheese and capers) will demonstrate the features of Far Eastern cuisine and will become a table decoration.
For 300 g of rice you will need 100 g of cheese, 1 clove of garlic, 3 lemons, black pepper, vegetable (preferably olive) oil, capers, parsley. Add the zest and juice of one lemon, finely chopped parsley, crushed garlic, pepper, salt to taste, grated cheese and pre-cooked rice to the olive oil. Mix everything very thoroughly, form balls, place them on thin lemon slices, garnish with capers on top.

Free balls

Carefully beat the egg, two tablespoons of sugar, salt to taste and a pinch of cinnamon, add about 100 g of flour, mix thoroughly. Add previously cooked rice and knead the dough. Roll the rice into balls and deep fry, turning regularly and carefully. Place the finished onigiri on paper napkins and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Onigiri with minced meat

Chop one small or half a medium onion and fry in olive oil, then add 200 g of minced meat (preferably mixed, such as pork and beef) and a quarter glass of wine (dry white). With regular stirring, wait for the wine to evaporate, add a tablespoon of tomato paste and water so that the liquid covers the entire minced meat. Salt, pepper, add basil or oregano.

Simmer over low heat for about 40 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and transfer the minced meat into one container and pour the sauce into another. Pour some of the sauce into the prepared rice, making sure that the mixture does not turn out to be too liquid, add a couple of tbsp. spoons of grated Parmesan and egg, mix thoroughly. Form rice balls, putting a little minced meat and a small piece of cheese in the middle, dip them in a beaten egg, roll generously in breadcrumbs and fry in olive oil until golden brown.

Such balls are also made with liver (chicken, turkey, rabbit, beef). The recipe is similar, except that the selected liver is fried in sour cream sauce. Then the liquid is decanted, and the liver is passed through a meat grinder.

You can prepare balls with minced meat using a simpler recipe. In this case, minced chicken is taken: the fillet is passed through a meat grinder, salted and fried in vegetable oil. When ready, add cheese to the minced meat and mix everything until smooth. The prepared rice porridge is made into balls into which the resulting minced meat is placed. The balls are also dipped in egg, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried, or even deep-fried.

Onigiri with umeboshi

Umeboshi - the so-called dried Japanese plums, are actually salted (pickled) Japanese apricot fruits. This is a recipe in which rice balls are filled with two types of filling: salmon and umeboshi.

Already cooked and slightly cooled rice is divided into two parts. Triangular onigiri with umeboshi are formed from one half. These products are wrapped in one strip of nori seaweed. Grilled salmon, peeled from skin and bones, is kneaded until smooth and mixed with the second part of the rice. Onigiri of the same triangular shape are created from the resulting substance, but they are not wrapped in seaweed, but sprinkled with sesame seeds. Usually 2 balls are placed per serving - with salmon and with umeboshi.

It should be noted that onigiri made according to this recipe are formed quite large, for example, for 4 servings, i.e., 8 units of balls equal a kilogram and a quarter of rice and 200 g of salmon. They turn out to be relatively large and differ from ordinary products in their shape. But essentially it’s the same thing.

I would like to add at the end: Japanese cuisine is quite simple to execute, the products (even seaweed) are available and inexpensive. So don't be afraid to experiment and have an unforgettable Japanese evening.

Today I want to offer not so much a recipe as a serving method. Children especially like rice balls, although adults also like this serving. If you prepare this side dish in advance, it stores well in a tray in the refrigerator. Serve side dish rice balls with meat, fish, vegetables and all kinds of cutlets and appetizers.

To prepare the dish we will need the products indicated in the list.

Rinse the rice thoroughly in several waters until the water becomes clear. Place in a sieve to drain thoroughly.

Place the rice in a ladle, fill with cold water, and add salt to taste. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, and immediately remove from heat.

Now let's start decorating. Place cling film or a food bag on a cutting board. Place two full tablespoons of prepared rice porridge on it in the center.

We gather all the ends together and begin to twist them in one direction. Roll it between your palms to form a beautiful bun.

That's it, the rice ball is ready. Place on a plate and sprinkle with finely chopped dill.

Onigiri are rice balls that are popular in Japan.
Onigiri is made from glutinous rice and then decorated with seaweed and other ingredients.)

Recipe
Rinse the rice under running water until the water runs clear. Place the rice in a saucepan and add 4.5 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Simmer until all liquid is absorbed, 15-20 minutes. Let the rice stand covered for another 15 minutes until it swells and softens properly. Then cool completely.

In a bowl, mix 1 glass of water with salt. Dip your hands in the solution before handling the rice. Divide the rice into 8 pieces - you will get 8 onigiri.
Divide each portion of rice into 2 parts. Make a neat indentation in one half
and put 1 teaspoon of filling (bonito) in it. Cover with the other half of the rice and squeeze lightly to seal the filling inside. Gently shape the rice into a triangle (traditional shape). You can also make oval or round (balls). Wrap the onigiri in a strip of nori and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Rice balls "Onigiri" according to the recipe from Scott Jurek's book Eat&Run + raw version with chiya

The recipe for onigiri “rice balls” in Scott Jurek’s book Eat and Run at first seemed too simple and even boring to me. But just today, on the day when I make preparations for cooking for the week, it came in handy: rice balls are convenient to take with you as a snack. For myself, I used soaked chiya seeds instead of rice.

So, in the original, in Scott Jurek's book, the recipe was like this:

Rice balls (Onigiri)

The first time I saw these seaweed-wrapped rice cakes was when I asked a Japanese runner what he was bringing for the race. I'm glad I asked because rice is a wonderful food for lowering body temperature, especially in an environment like Death Valley. The rice is carbohydrates, the onigiri is not too sweet and is soft and easy to digest. An excellent source of electrolytes and salt (from seaweed), rice balls have always been a convenient snack in Japan. And now they can be found in any Asian supermarkets.

Arancini (translated from Italian as “little oranges”) is a traditional Sicilian dish consisting of stuffed rice balls, breaded and fried in a lot of oil. During the cooking process, a small amount of turmeric or saffron is added to the rice grains, due to which the grains turn yellow or orange, and the finished products become similar to citrus fruits. Hence the name of the recipe.

These balls are prepared with different fillings. In our example, the arancini will be stuffed with minced meat stewed in tomato paste and a slice of cheese. Rice under a rich fried crust combined with meat and melted gooey cheese is very tasty!

Ingredients:

rice - 300 g (the weight of uncooked cereal is indicated);
egg - 1 pc.;
cheese - 50 g;
turmeric - 1⁄2 teaspoon;
salt - to taste.

For the filling:

minced beef - 250 g;
cheese - 100 g;
tomato paste - 2 tbsp. spoons;
salt, pepper - to taste;
vegetable oil (for frying) - 2-3 tbsp. spoons.

For breading and deep frying:

eggs - 2 pcs.;
breadcrumbs - 1⁄2 cup;
vegetable oil - about 500 ml.

Arancini rice balls recipe with photos

Place the washed rice in a saucepan and add approximately 700-800 ml of water. Salt, add turmeric. Cook the cereal until cooked (until soft). If all the liquid in the pan has evaporated, but the grains are still uncooked, add a little water. But it is important not to overdo it with the liquid - in this recipe the rice should turn out sticky, not crumbly.
Grate the cheese (50 g) into fine shavings and add it to the rice, which has cooled until warm. Beat in the egg and thoroughly mix the rice porridge.
How to prepare arancini filling
Place the minced meat in a frying pan with heated oil. Fry, breaking up large lumps of meat with a spatula.
When all the minced meat changes color from red-pink to gray-beige, add tomato paste. Season the meat with salt/pepper.
Stir the contents of the pan, pour in a couple of tablespoons of water and simmer the meat filling for the arancini for 5-10 minutes (until fully cooked).
Cut the cheese for the filling into fairly large cubes.
How to form arancini with cheese and minced meat
Wet our hands thoroughly with water. Pinch off a large lump from the rice mass and flatten it in the palm of your hand. Place about a spoonful of minced meat and a cheese cube in the center.
We hide the filling - roll up the rice ball.
Beat the eggs with a fork, combining the yolks and whites into a single composition. Dip the rice ball into the resulting egg mixture.
Next, generously roll the workpiece in breadcrumbs. We form the remaining arancini with filling in a similar way, not forgetting to wet your palms with water each time. In total you will get 11-12 large balls or a little more (depending on the desired size).
Arancini is prepared in a large amount of oil. You can use a deep fryer or just take a thick-bottomed frying pan with high sides. Heat the oil high and fry the arancini in batches. The balls should be at least half immersed in oil.
Turn the arancini periodically so they cook evenly. When the rice balls are browned on all sides, catch them with a slotted spoon and immediately place them on napkins or paper towels to absorb excess fat.
Serve the arancini rice balls hot or warm.

Bon appetit!

Rice balls, or onigiri, are a common Japanese dish. You may have even seen how characters in Japanese films or anime feast on them, exchanging onigiri with various fillings with each other. You can try to touch the culture of a mysterious eastern country and prepare one of the rice balls.

Cooking rice balls: video recipe

Photo by Shutterstock

Ingredients for rice balls

There are many options for preparing rice balls, because you can use anything as a filling: fish, meat, cucumber, avocado, pickled vegetables and fruits. The main thing is that the filling is not sweet. Try this traditional Japanese recipe with salmon and pickled umeboshi plums. This dish can be great for use in Japanese diets.

For this you will need:

7 cups sushi rice;
4 pickled plums;
a piece of grilled salmon (you can use any other red fish, tuna and even canned fish, the main thing is not to get carried away with raw seafood);
a tablespoon of salt; - nori seaweed;
sesame.

If you can't find pickled plums, use any other filling: cucumber, shrimp, canned corn.

How to cook rice for Japanese balls

First, prepare the rice, from which you will later create balls. First, soak the rice in cold water for 15–20 minutes, then rinse it thoroughly, add water in a ratio of one to two and put on fire. Cook the rice over low heat until tender (usually this takes 10-15 minutes after the water boils). Remove the pan from the stove and let the rice cool. To cook onigiri, it must be hot, but not burn your hands.

If you wish, you can add the spices you have to the rice to give the dish a more piquant taste.

How to make onigiri

Pour a tablespoon of salt into a shallow cup, bowl, or simply onto a separate plate. Separate one eighth of the rice and transfer it to another container. Make a hole in the center of this pile of rice, insert the plum (or whatever filling you decide to use instead of umeboshi) and then cover it with rice on top. Wet your hands with water, take a small amount of salt and rub it in your palms. Take out the rice with the plum and form it into a ball. It should be quite dense and hold its shape well. Make four onigiri with pickled plums. Take a sheet of nori, cut it into four strips and wrap them around the balls.