January 26, 2012

Making Onigiri/おにぎりの作り方

Edited to add a note on Feb. 3.
I have done enough searching, and found that I need not make any changes to my present method but found that I have to add additional notes for clarity, so I have revised this post.
2月3日に注を追加:
十分に検索をして、現在の方法を変える必要はないが、明確にするため注をさらに書く必要があると分かったので、この投稿を改訂します。

Edited to add a note on Jan. 27:
Note: I will try to improve my way of making onigiri. When I'm satisfied with my new way, I will describe it in my blog.
1月27日に注を追加:
注: 私のおにぎりの作り方を改善しようと思います。新しい方法に満足したら、このブログに載せます。

As I said in the preceding post, my way of making onigiri has changed over the years, and the following is my most recent method:
前の投稿で述べたように私のおにぎりの作り方は年月を重ねるごとに変わってきました。最近の方法を説明します。

1. Making onigiri with filling in them
1. 中に具を入れたおにぎりの作り方

Setup:
準備:
In a container, combine water and salt at a ratio of 1:2.
容器に、水と塩を1:2で合わせます。
Dense salt water is superior to salt in solid form in that it serves two purposes at the same time: wetting your hands and seasoning onigiri with salt.
Note: Adjust the water-to-salt ratio to your preference in the range of, say, 1:2 to 2:1. One site even says to use 10 g salt and 100 g water.
濃い塩水は、手を濡らす、おにぎりに塩味をつけるという2つの目的を同時に果たすという点で固体の塩より優れています。
注: 水と塩の割合は、1:2~2:1の範囲で好みに合わせて調整して下さい。塩を10 g、水を100 g使うというサイトもあります。

Shown right are a bottle of salmon flakes with a spoon in it and a container with 3 g katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings) and 1 tsp soy sauce, with a pair of chopsticks on it. I am going to make two salmon flake onigiri and two okaka (= katsuobushi) onigiri.
Note: Popular fillings include:
Umeboshi, tuna mayo, grilled salmon, grilled tarako (cod roe), mentaiko (spicy code roe), kombu (pre-seasoned), okaka* (katsuobushi + soy sauce)
*Okaka is another name for katsuobushi (dried bonito) and kezuribushi (dried bonito shavings). This word is actually a nyobo koboba, but is now often used to mean a mixture of katsuobushi and soy sauce as a filling for onigiri.
右側にあるのは、サーモンフレークの瓶で、スプーンを入れてあります。それから、鰹節を3gとしょう油を小さじ1を入れた容器(箸が一膳)。サーモンフレークのおにぎりを二つ、おかか(鰹節)のおにぎりを二つ作るつもりです。
注: 人気のある具としては、
梅干、ツナマヨ、焼き鮭、焼きたらこ、明太子、昆布、おかか*などがあります。
*「おかか」とは鰹節や削り節の別名です。この言葉は実際は女房詞(にょうぼうことば)なのですが、おにぎりの具として鰹節としょう油を混ぜたものを指すことが多いです。


The bowl contains hot rice, and a large spoon is provided.
Note: Preferably, use just cooked rice. Otherwise, reheat leftover cold rice in a microwave. You cannot make decent onigiri with cold rice.
0. Wet your hands with salt water.
Note: Avoid wetting your hands too much.
1. Scoop an appropriate amount of rice, and place it on the palm of your left hand (if you are right-handed).
Note: Please read "your left hand (if you are right-handed)" as "one hand".
My onigiri are relatively small, about 85 g in weight, as compared with conbini (convinience store) onigiri, which are typically 100-110 g. I used to make much bigger ones, probably twice as large. My wife and children used to complain that they were too big for them. Now I make women- and children-friendly onigiri.
2. Make a dent at the center of the rice with your thumb.
Note: For a small amount of rice, you can easily make a dent with the thumb of the hand on which the rice is placed. For a larger amount, you may have to use the other hand to make a dent.
3. Put some ingredient (salmon flakes, for example) in the dent. (You may want to add some additional rice on top of the ingredient to fully cover it.)
Note: I personally don't want to add any additional rice because that will increase the weight of the onigiri.
ボールには熱いご飯が入っていて、大きなスプーンがついています。
注: できれば、炊き立てのご飯を使って下さい。でなければ、残りの冷や飯(ひやめし)を電子レンジで温めて下さい。冷や飯ではちゃんとしたおにぎりは作れません。
0. 塩水で両手を濡らします。
注: 手を濡らしすぎないように注意して下さい。
1. ご飯を適量すくい、左の掌(てのひら)に載せます(右利きの場合)。
注: 「左の掌(てのひら)...(右利きの場合)」は、「片手の掌(てのひら)」に読みかえて下さい。
私のおにぎりは、小さめで、約85 gです。コンビニのおにぎりは一般的に100~110 g程度です。以前はもっと大きな、多分、今の2倍くらいのおにぎりを作っていましたが、妻や子供たちが大き過ぎると文句を言うので、今では女性と子供に優しいおにぎりを作っています。
2. ご飯の中央に親指で凹みを作ります。
注: ご飯の量が少なければ、ご飯を載せた手の親指で簡単に凹み(へこみ)、窪み(くぼみ)を作れますが、量が多い場合は、もう一方の手で窪みをつけたほうがいいかも知れません。
3. 具(例えば、サーモンフレーク)を凹みに入れます(具の上にご飯もちょっと載せて、完全に隠してもいいです)。
注: 個人的には、ご飯を足すとおにぎりが重くなるので、やりたくないです。
4. Make the rice into a ball shape, with your both hands.
4. 両手を使って、ご飯をボールの形にします。
5. Place the ball of rice in your right hand. Support it with your palm and four fingers.
Note: Please read "your right and" as "one hand". I am surprised that all the people I checked on the Internet use their left hand to support the onigiri. I am also surprised that I find myself unable to turn onigiri properly with my left hand!
5. ボールにしたご飯を右手に置きます。掌と四本の指で支持します。
注: 「右手」は「片手」に読みかえて下さい。インターネットで調べた人はみな左手を使っておにぎりを支えているので驚きました。また、私自身は左手ではうまくおにぎりを回せないことに驚きました。
6. Make your left hand into a shape like this. (This photo is taken afterwards.)
注: Please read "your left hand" as "the other hand."
6. 左手はこんな形にします(この写真は後で撮りました)。
注: 「左手」は「もう一方の手」に読みかえて下さい。
7. Shape the onigiri into a triangle, making sure that your right palm and four fingers support the sides of the onigiri. Just support the sides, avoid packing the onigiri.
More specifically, shape the rice with your both hands, turn the onirigi by 120 degrees, shape, turn by 120 degrees, shape, turn by 120 degrees, and shape for the final (fourth) time. Again, DON'T PACK THE RICE, JUST SUPPORT IT.
Note: This step is really hard to explain. View the videos below if you find the description difficult to understand.
Let me add that I determine the depth of the onigiri while shaping and turning the onigiri by slightly pressing the sides of the onigiri with the palm and four fingers of the hand supporting the onigiri.
7. おにぎりを三角にします。この時、右の掌と四本の指がおにぎりの両面を支えてください。両面を支えるだけで、押し固めないようにしてください。
具体的に言うと、両手でご飯を成形して、120度回転させ、成形し、120度回転させ、成形し、120度回転させ、最後に(四回目)成形し終えます。繰り返しますが、押し固めずに、ただ支持してください。
注: このステップは本当に説明し難いです。分かり難い場合は、下記のビデオを見て下さい。
私は、おにぎりを握って、回す間に、おにぎりを支えている手の手の平(掌)と四本の指でおにぎりの両面を軽く押して、おにぎりの奥行きを決めます。
Done!
完成!
Note: I make it a point to shape four times and turn three times only to avoid packing the rice tightly. You may want to shape and turn more times to make your onigiri into a perfect triangle.
Some of the filling is visible on the surface, but I don't care. I sometimes intentionally make some visible on the surface so that I can tell what the filling is later.
注: 私はご飯を握り過ぎないよう、握るのは四回、回すのは3回だけにしていますが、おにぎりをもっと何回も握って、回して、完全な三角形にしても良いかも知れません。
具が一部、表面に見えますが、私は気にしません。後で具が何だかすぐ分かるようにわざと少し見えるようにすることもあります。

You can tell what the fillings are at a glance.
具が何か一目で分かります。
I had one onigiri without nori. I wrapped two in nori in my usual way, and one entirely in nori like my mother used to do.
一つは海苔なしで食べました。二つは私のいつもの巻き方で海苔を巻き、一つは、母がしていたように海苔を全体に巻きました。
Note: You may decide to wrap onigiri with nori at the time of eating to enjoy the crispy nori.
注: パリッとした海苔を楽しみたければ、食べる時に海苔を巻いてもいいです。

References:
参考:
Basics of Cooking: Making Onigiri/料理の基本 おにぎりの握り方
Video teaching you how to make rectangular onigiri and cylindrical (tawara gata) ones .
三角形のおにぎりと俵形のおにぎりの作り方を教えるビデオ。
Making Salted Rice Balls/塩むすびの作り方
Video teaching you how to make simple "shio musubi" (salted rice balls)
Note that musubi and o-musubi are synonymous with onigiri.
単純な「塩むすび」の作り方を教えるビデオ。
「むすび」、「おむすび」は「おにぎり」と同義です。

10 comments:

Fräulein Trude said...

Wow, thank you for this very detailed description.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: When I woke up this morning and read this post of mine, I found a lot of flaws. I think I have to rewrite the whole text soon! It's really difficult to write about something you do in a minute automatically. Can you describe how to ride a bicycle in detail? (laugh)

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, thank you for these detailed instructions and great making-of photos. The most difficult part I think it's forming the rice firmly without squashing it. It requires a certain experience.
I see you are really an experienced onigiri maker!
Suddenly I crave onigiri!

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Thanks for your compliment.

I tried to revise this post by trying to remember what I do to make onigiri, but in vain.

I think I should try to update my way of making onigiri first.

While searching, I found this site:
http://umeboss.com/posts/8231/onigiri-breakfast/
It contains a video.
Her way of making onigiri is impressive, but I think her onigiri are bigger than mine, and she packs her onigiri too many times.

Anyway, I will try to improve my way of making onigiri, and when I'm satisfied with it, I will describe it here.

Fräulein Trude said...

Best would be to make a video too I guess. Even if this lady in the video turned and packed the onigiri quite too often (I don't know, your words): her way of wrapping the nori sheet around is very beautiful. Looks like a good tailored jacket, flawless.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about making a video, too, but the problem is that I don't have the necessary equipment. I only have a digital camera that can only make low-resolution videos.

I found another video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EoQS2BjeKw
This woman wets her hands and then puts some salt on her palm. I think my dense salt water method is superior.
She uses her left hand to support the onigiri, while I use my right hand.

I still need to learn from others to improve my method.

Fräulein Trude said...

Using the left or the right hand depends on personal abilities. Sometimes I am better using my left hand. Concerning sprinkle/rub salt into your palm before forming: One side effect could be that the onigiri surface contents here and there single salt corns and is not (slightly) salty all - in fact using sea salt flakes leads to a nice surprise.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Yes, I know. And, I use my hands differently from the woman in the video when turning the onigiri.

This woman packs an onigiri more than 15 times!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvqaU0r9yeg

I know from TV programs and online sources that professional onigiri makers typically pack 3-4 times only.

Anyway, I think I have done enough searching, and I am glad that I don't have to update my present way.

I will post about my way of making onigiri again when I have more free time.

Ruminating Roy said...

I tried your method around some leftover beef soboro yesterday and everything worked out great!

I tend to make onigiri in a ball, since I'm usually throwing them into my backpack on my way out the door in the mornings. Your method was just as quick but I thankfully don't have to work hard to keep them round while I wrap them up!

Hiroyuki said...

Ruminating Roy: Thank you for trying my method!

I will update this post as soon as I have some free time.