Onigiri

Nori

Ordinary sushi nori is all you need. A full sheet is about 21 × 19 cm, and onigiri use part of one, cut to the style you want.

Put the shiny side out, with the rough side against the rice. Nori goes soft within minutes on rice: wrap just before eating for crisp nori, or ahead for soft nori that clings.

How much nori each style uses
Cut	Size	Covers	Style	Rice per ball
A third	7 × 19 cm	A band up both faces	Classic homemade	100 g
Half	10,5 × 19 cm	Most of both faces	Convenience store	100 g
Whole	21 × 19 cm	All of it	Bakudan	200 g

Sizes are cut from a standard full sheet. Rice per ball is approximate.

Wrapping

For the convenience-store look, a half sheet goes under the base and up both faces, and its corners fold round the edges.

Diagram: a full 21 by 19 cm sheet of nori cut down the middle into two strips of 10,5 by 19 cm — Step 1Cut a full sheet in half: two strips of about 10,5 × 19 cm.

Diagram, side view: an onigiri standing on its base in the middle of a strip of nori lying flat — Step 2Lay a strip shiny side down and stand the onigiri on its base across the middle.

Diagram, side view: both ends of the strip folded up against the front and back of the onigiri — Step 3Fold both ends up and press them onto the front and back.

Diagram, front view: the nori covers the face, and its corners stick out past the sloping edges, with arrows folding them in — Step 4Fold the corners that stick out round the edges and press them onto the sides.

Diagram, front view: the finished onigiri, nori covering the face up to just below the tip — Step 5Done: both faces and the base are covered. The tip may stay bare.

Packing them for later

Carry the cut nori in a bag and wrap at the table. Let the rice cool first whatever you pack it in.

Bakudan

A bakudan (bomb onigiri) is a big round onigiri wrapped in a whole sheet, so no rice shows. It takes about 200 g rice, roughly twice a normal one, and usually holds several fillings.

About 200 g of cooked rice in a plastic food bag on a kitchen scale — Step 1Weigh about 200 g warm rice into a plastic food bag or onto cling film.

Rolled omelette, salmon and kombu placed in a hollow in the rice — Step 2Make a hollow and put the fillings in the middle, here salmon, rolled omelette and kombu (kelp).

Two hands pressing the rice into a ball — Step 3Close the rice over the fillings and press it into a ball through the bag.

The ball fully wrapped in nori, on a bamboo tray — Step 4Set the ball on a whole sheet, shiny side down, bring the nori up round it and press the folds flat.

The wrapped ball back in the plastic bag, resting in a bowl — Step 5Put it back in the bag for a few minutes: the nori softens, turns glossy and seals.

A bakudan on a board beside a large triangle onigiri and a small one — SizeThe bakudan (right) next to a normal convenience-store-sized onigiri (front), which holds about half the rice.

Fillings

Keep fillings fairly dry: liquid soaks into the rice and the ball splits, so drain well and bind with mayo rather than sauce. Use about 1 tbsp filling for a ball of 100–120 g rice.

All of these are dairy-free. Mayo has egg in it, not milk.

Tuna mayo

Well-drained tinned tuna, Japanese mayo and a few drops of soy sauce, as in Japanese shops.

Japanese mayo (Kewpie is the standard) uses egg yolks only and usually contains MSG (monosodium glutamate), so it's richer and more savoury. With ordinary mayo, add a small pinch of MSG.
Spicy: stir in some gochujang (Korean chilli paste) or a pinch of togarashi (Japanese chilli mix). The gochujang version is closer to Korean triangle kimbap than to Japanese onigiri.

Salmon mayo

Tinned salmon is already cooked. It's cooked inside the sealed tin, which also softens the bones enough to eat.

Drain well, pick out the skin and the bigger bits of spine (or mash the bones in), flake it and mix with mayo.
It's milder and less salty than the classic grilled salted salmon (shiozake), so add a few drops of soy sauce or a pinch of salt.

Vegan teriyaki chicken mayo

Air-fry vegan chicken bites as the pack says, then cut them into pieces of about 2 cm so the rice closes round them.
Glaze: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp mirin and ½ tsp sugar in a pan. Let it bubble for about a minute until syrupy, then toss the pieces in it.
Add a dab of mayo when you fill the ball.

The sugar thickens the glaze so it coats the pieces instead of soaking into the rice, which keeps the ball from splitting. The breading softens in the rice, as real karaage (Japanese fried chicken) does.

Mentaiko mayo

Mentaiko (salted, chilli-marinated pollock roe) mixed with mayo. It's usually sold frozen at Japanese grocers.

Egg

Tamago mayo: chopped boiled egg with Japanese mayo, like the filling of a Japanese egg sandwich.
Ajitama: a whole soy-marinated soft-boiled egg, the kind served on ramen, inside a bakudan.

Grilled finish

Yaki onigiri (grilled onigiri) works with most fillings. Brush the shaped ball with soy sauce, or miso thinned with a little mirin, and crisp it in a pan or the toaster oven until brown.

The heat caramelises the soy and dries the outside into a crunchy crust. Leave the nori off, or add it afterwards.

Devil's onigiri

Akuma no onigiri mixes everything into the rice instead of filling it. Per 100 g rice, use about 1½ tbsp tenkasu, 1½ tsp mentsuyu and 1½ tsp aonori. Spring onion is a good extra.

Tenkasu are the crunchy bits of fried batter left from tempura, mentsuyu is a concentrated sauce of soy sauce, dashi (Japanese stock) and mirin (sweet rice wine), and aonori is powdered green seaweed.

Homemade mentsuyu

1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp water and ¼ tsp dashi granules, heated until it bubbles. Enough for about 5 balls.

Without tenkasu

Tenkasu softens in the rice, so its main job is adding fat and soaking up the sauce. The crunch matters less.

Make a small batch: whisk about 3 tbsp flour with about 3 tbsp ice-cold water into a thin batter and drizzle it off a spoon into about 1 cm of hot oil, around 170–180 °C (a drop should sizzle and rise at once). Scoop the bits out when golden. The cold water limits gluten (the stretchy protein that forms in wet flour), so they turn out crisp rather than bready.
Fried shallots (bawang goreng), sold in tubs at Asian shops: oily and crunchy, but they taste of onion, which departs from the original.
Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) fried in a little oil until golden: the closest in texture.

With furikake

Furikake (a dry rice seasoning) mixed into rice is its own common style: a different dish from devil's onigiri, but good. It can stand in for the aonori. Use less mentsuyu, because furikake is already salty.