I can’t tell you how excited I am to be sharing my favorite sandwich recipe with you today. I came across these “on the go snacks” called onigiri in Japan last year when we climbed Mt Fuji. Our guide and translator, Luke, bought a few of these triangle shaped rice filled sandwiches at the 7 Eleven before our climb (yes they have 7 Eleven in Japan!). He stuffed about 5 of them into his bag to eat at various times during the hike. I was so curious to know what these little triangles of nori contained, so I had him translate the 10 different versions on the shelf. While some of them were certainly appetizing and delicious, like umeboshi (pickled plum), some were not and down right scary! Chopped up hot dogs? I guess it was 7 Eleven after all…
I’ve taken the mystery out of these little creations. If filled with the right contents, they are so nutritious (yeah for sea vegetables and brown rice!) and are perfect to take to work or pack in your children’s lunch box. I think kids would love these, especially if they already love sushi.
Onigiri has become a staple in my house and I have a feeling they might become a staple in yours too. I really hope these go mainstream here in the US. It’s about time we had a quick sandwich that wasn’t filled with processed meat. What if Subway started carrying these? Could you even imagine?
To make these little beauties it doesn’t take much skill, but does require a triangle mold. I used a kit available online here …it comes with a triangle mold, detailed instructions and special nori wrappers that are made so the rice doesn’t touch the nori until you unwrap it. It’s brilliant how the wrappers keep the nori from getting soggy and also keeps them fresh.
When you run out of wrappers (because you’ll want to make these every week like me!) you can get more nori refills online here.
The type of rice you use is so important – you must choose a short grain japanese rice that will hold together nicely. I like Tru Roots Haiga Rice because it has the texture and taste of japanese white rice but is actually whole grain…it cooks in 15 mins! Amazing, right?
I can’t wait to hear back from everyone who tries the recipe!
- 1 cup Haiga or Japanese short grain brown rice uncooked
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp japanese cooking wine or mirin
- 1 tbsp coconut palm sugar or evaporated cane juice
- 2 tbsp black toasted sesame seeds
- Onigiri wrappers (+ mold for forming triangles)
- Filling Option 1:
- ½ cup cooked red kidney beans
- 2 carrots diced small
- ½ red pepper diced small
- 1 avocado diced
- 1 large pickle diced small
- Filling Option 2:
- 1 sweet potato cooked and diced with skin removed
- 3 scallions diced
- ¼ cup goat cheese
- Filling Option 3:
- 1 cucumber diced
- 1 avocado diced
- hot sauce to taste or garlic mayo
- Filling Option 4:
- 1 cup cole slaw
- Filling Option 5:
- 1 cup kimchi
- Filling Option 6:
- ⅓ cup fig jam
- ½ cup goat cheese
- 1 cup diced arugula
- Rinse rice with filtered water, and cook to package instructions – note: Haiga rice only takes 15 mins to cook
- While rice is cooking, combine vinegar, mirin, sugar
- Stir vinegar mixture in cooked rice
- Add sesame seeds and fluff
- Once rice has cooled, place ¼ cup rice in mold on top of seaweed wrap, press, add fillings of your choice, and then another ¼ cup rice and press again tightly making a compact triangle
- Wrap according to Onigri wrap directions, following the numbers and seal with two stickers
Thank you Luke for taking us up the mountain and for inspiring me to make onigiri back home….I can’t wait to do the “udon noddle” yoga pose with you on top of Mt. Fuji again one day 
Sayonara!
Food Babe
P.S. If you’ve got other good combination ideas – please share with me and others!
I would love to make these, but the link to amazon for the kit will not ship to my address. I am in Canada. Is there any other supplier that you are aware of that will ship to Canada?
Joan, this response might be a bit late, but http://jbox.com ships worldwide!
Food Babe,
There was an older monk in a shrine near Mount Fuji. He told me quietly one afternoon, and I will repeat.
“A wise man must climb Fujiyama once. Only a fool does it twice.
That is why I ended up climbing Fujiyama three times (late 1950s and early 1960s).
Thank U for the Kraft and Subway articles. I shared this article with all my buddies as a great lunch or portable food idea. Keep up the wonderful, interesting and rewarding journalism.
Genki daska, Food Babe!
Are you LIVING in Japan? And are you a strict vegetarian?
I thank you for all the info about, and condemnation of, toxic chemical additives in food, but I just canNOT be Vegetarian! I tried once, and got what my doctor called “Nutrient starved.” He said I just HAVE to eat a more “nutrient dense diet,” and that the ONLY WAY to get there is to eat some MEAT. He recommended fish, fowl and lean GAME meats, instead of beef. He also said it is GENETIC, and because I have type O-negative BLOOD!
I understand that I can be difficult to cut out meat, I myself was a meat eater for 16 years but have decided not to eat meat anymore, although I do really like it!
If you asked me to cut out every type of meat a few years back, I wouldn’t of done it even if you paid me I was a real meat eater!
Yes, I do get times were I just slip and have the odd bit of meat but this getting is less and less.
TAKE IT SLOWLY.
Don’t cut it all out in one day. You’ll be craving like mad otherwise! Decide on one meat you want to leave out. When you feel ready, leave out another meat. Make sure your having loads of vegetable fruit and berries with every meal. I hope I’m not lecturing you, just sharing my experience.
I didn’t cut everything out at once. Pork and seafood was the first to go and then very gradually I just stopped eating the rest. This has been over a year and a half though. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a very good appetite and live perfectly well on fresh juice (I highly recommend starting juicing, weather you continue to eat meat or not), vegan and vegetarian meals, nuts, fruit and veg etc.
Since when did the type of blood determine what you should eat?! What were you eating to starve yourself so much?
The link below may also help to answer your qestion:http://www.earthsave.org/health/bloodtyp.htm It is a little long, but well worth the read!
I’m going to support your doc in this. I know how to eat vegan, and could if I wanted to, but frankly, do better with a bit of meat. We all have our theories about food. Mine is simply to eat the stuff that makes you feel good. How do you know the difference between a craving and something your body really needs? Careful listening.
You can do this one of two ways-
1. Carefully noting how you feel after eating something. DO you feel refreshed and nourished an hour after eating, or do you feel heavy, sluggish, or like you “crashed”? Keep a food diary and pay attention. Also, cut out nonsense beverages, as they can confuse things. Just drink water for awhile.
2. You can do a fast to reset your body and then gradually introduce foods again. My experience is that you will gravitate towards what your body needs, and a lot of the cravings for unhealthy stuff falls away. It will be absolutely necessary for you to be taking spirulina with your juices, or your body will NOT be happy. I am typically a high protein consumption type, and not well if I don’t, and I went through the juice fast just fine on this.
One last thing- If you were malnourished as a vegetarian I’m going to suggest that you were not getting a wide enough variety of plants. Many plants are nutrient dense, and you have need to eat a good helping of them. Good if you have a large appetite. A strictly vegan diet is not for me, and may not be for you, but you won’t really know if you are doing a poor job in plannign your meals. Hire a holistic nutritionist to help you if you really want to give it an honest go. Then, if it doesn’t work for you, you know that it doesn’t work
I don’t demonize any one type of diet. There are too many peoples enjoying long lives on extremely varied diets, and the idea that vegetarians don’t get heart disease has been debunked. Heck, even the Dalai Lama eats meat. My ancestors ate meat, the folks in Mongolia continue to live off it almost exclusively in the winter, switching to a nearly entirely vegan diet in the summer.
Do what’s right for you, source your food wisely, and make peace with what you eat to nourish your body.
Good luck!
Forgot to mention one thing- Whatever you do, stay away from processed foods. They negate any environmental benefit of a vegan diet, are costly to produce, and have a fraction of the nutrition of properly cooked, raw or made-at-home meals.
Onigiri aren’t sandwiches, they’re rice balls, but it’s always great to see someone discover how easy they are to make! These look great!
Some of the best snacks are rice balls, especially those with nori, vegetables and beans, (I’m not a mochi freak). I guess it’s because I don’t care for sugar or salt.
Bought them at the Azabu Market in Hiro, Tokyo, in the 1960′s and 70′s during a little tour in South east Asia. Kept them in the backpack. Munched them in the belly of an AC 130, enjoyed them.
Ted Sebern
Food Babe, I like reading the info you put out. You are the latest addition in my continuing search for better health and good resources. Regarding giving up all meat – I watched a video of Kris Carr (“Crazy Sexy Cancer,” “Crazy Sexy Kitchen,” “Crazy Sexy Diet”) with her personal doctor who practices “integrative medicine.” He has helped her live ten years with incurable cancer. She’s amazingly vibrant and had to totally change her diet and way of living. (She documents this in her blog and books.) She’s a total vegan, and probably mostly eats raw foods. Her doctor (sorry I don’t recall his name) said that everyone’s needs are different, and he does a battery of testing to determine exactly what someone’s nutritional needs are, how they are fulfilling them. He said he was a vegetarian while in medical school years ago when it wasn’t so popular, but later, found that he wasn’t getting all the nutrients he needed. He added some meat back into his diet and makes sure the kind of meat he eats is raised with conscience, fed organically, etc. In his practice, he continues this way of working – individualized assessment and treatment. If someone is found to be nutritionally deficient and needs some meat in their diet, I support them. We’re all looking for best practices for ourselves and the planet. I’m a work in progress, as we all are.
See my post below.
After psyching myself up for about a year, I FINALLY tried making my own onigiri. They don’t look perfect but I can’t wait to try them for lunch today. Thank you for clueing me in on this idea.
http://reallyeating.areavoices.com/2013/05/06/trying-a-new-lunch-item-japanese-rice-sandwich/
I’ve never tried these, but I did order the kit! I wonder if quinoa would work in this too?