Introduction: How to Make an Onigiri (rice Ball)
Onigiri, also known as rice ball, is made with white rice that is usually formed into a triangular or circular/oval shape wrapped with a strip of nori (edible seaweed). Some traditional fillings for onigiri include pickled vegetables or fruit (plum), fish (salmon, tuna), seafood, and any other salty or sour preservatives. But you can always add whatever ingredients you like for the fillings. To make a triangular onigiri, it is done by shaping it into a triangle by hand. It may be a bit messy and may take a while to form the perfect triangle. So this instructable shows a clean, quick, and easy way to make a triangular onigiri using a plastic bag.
Step 1: Cut Out Plastic Bag’s Edge
First, take a clean plastic bag and cut off an edge of the bag so it becomes a triangle. The measurements for mine are about 7 inches X 10 inches X 7 inches. It's also great to use an empty chip bag but it's easier to see what you are doing with a clear plastic bag or Ziploc bag.
Step 2: Rice
Fill about half or 2/3 of the rice you want to use in the plastic bag. Press it down a bit so the rice fills the corner of the bag.
Step 3: Fillings
Add in the fillings you want. I used some dried shredded fish and furikake (a Japanese condiment). You may want to bury the fillings in between the grains so that the ingredients are stuck well in the rice.
Step 4: Covering Fillings
Cover the fillings with a bit more rice, however much you want.
Step 5: Forming the Triangle
Press on all sides to make a triangle. Make sure it's pressed well so that it won't fall apart when you take the plastic bag off.
Step 6: Add Nori
Take off the plastic bag and wrap a strip of nori/seaweed on the bottom to finish off.
Step 7: Final
And you are done! Serve on a plate or wrap it in plastic wrap for lunch packing or storage.
75 Comments
Question 3 years ago
Is the rice precooked or is it uncooked? I assume precooked but I’m not sure.
12 years ago on Introduction
I was happy to see this because I just read the part in "Fruits Basket" where they are going to sell some onigiri!
Reply 7 years ago
I just watched that episode...lol That's why I was so gung-ho to learn the proper way to make it. The other places that sell nori are natural markets or health food stores.
9 years ago on Introduction
Kyaa~! It Look's so good!! Can't wait to make it! Arigatou Gozaimasu!!!
14 years ago on Introduction
Ooishiso!! Arigato Godaimas halume san
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
oishiisou* arigatou* gozaimasu*
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
er my bad oishisou*
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
for those that don't have any understanding of Japanese, I think the comment translates to "thank you"
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Yes, indeed. I was trying to say: -"Looks delicious!! thank you very much Mr. Robo... er, halume"- in an odd language similar to Japanese ;-) (I stand corrected, thank you t3hj4p). Is the non-capitalization of names intentional? I feel weird writing them all in lower case.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
"oishii you" is ok (and it's not the english 'you').
I wonder if the site supports hiragana/kanji encoding... he he.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
um... i would think online it would be fine to just use the username in its cap/non as is :P and there really isnt a thing such as capitalization in japanese :T its just romanization of the phonics of speaking so it doesnt even matter :D for instance "konnichiha" is hello/good afternoon and because its romanized it doesnt matter if its KoNNiChiHa or KonnichiHa or Konnichiha or even konnichiha because they all would be opinionated as correct by any certain group of people all in all as long as the romanized form is correct in spelling its fine lol
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
"good afternoon/hello" is pronounced "ko-n-ni-chi-wa"..."konnichiha" will just get you laughed at by japanese speakers...BTW, watashi no senmon ga eigo to nihongo desu, soshite nihongo wo jouzo hanashimasu. Demo, watashi wa Amerika-jin desu. You can say "This looks delicious" by saying "Kore oishii miteiru!", which literally means "This is looking delicious".
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
slightly wrong, my friend. the true romanization of the pronunciation of "konnichiwa" is actually using ha and not wa, because you "spell" it with ha. dont mix up romanization with pronunciation please. and to add "kore oishii miteiru" directly translates to "this delicious looks is" yay for typos! "jouzo"? xD
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Japanese is both written and spoken phonetically. All three types of Romanization (romaji) are attempts to write in english characters the sounds of japanese...technically, romaji IS pronunciation. The issue that most learners of japanese have when learning the language is that the japanese characters do not "mean" something in english, they are their own language, and thus to be taken separate from the english language.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
it was a type of... chore to read all of your comments.
and my comment on "jouzo" was that it should be "jouzu".
that said i would like to say that your "senmon" is probably not japanese...
and neither is mine by any sight because i know probably only 1/4 of what i should know by now. (major need to catch up on kanji -_-;;;)
but at least i dont brag about it.
and of course capitalizing names is important, but on the internet that should not matter unless you are actually using the name of a user and not the user defined alias, such as my t3hj4p; can be capitalized or left as is.
and as you have said before it is totally unnecessary to do everything to optimize the language, so therefore i do not capitalize and punctuate everything as i should.
and the basics of romanization is to point out that yes the pronunciation is like so-and-so; it is also used in place of actual japanese words in english context because people would probably know "mori" over the kanji with meaning of "forest".
people from different countries also translate things so that they can be understood by learners, no? that is why we can directly translate "mori" to "forest" without trouble: it is fundamentally the same thing in nature, so it is fine to do so.
though when paired with other kanji and hiragana does mean something entirely different, and that is where rough translation comes in.
also i was joking with the whole direct translation thing dude. xD
and direct translation is where you include everything you can... so "watashi ha kissaten ni ikimasu" translates directly to "me (or i) is coffee shop to going" and is not necessarily wrong, because it is translation, yet it is more correct to translate it into "i am going to the coffee shop" because that is what it means.
and to say "redundant, obtuse, and inefficient" you are redundantly using redundancy to redundantly say something redundant. :D
and i know what is up with japanese, bro. i am japanese. my parents have been speaking it around me so i know the gist3.
the only problem is i have only started learning at high school, and this year ive graduated and have to tell you i have only learned hiragana and katakana. all else i just kinda picked up from dictionaries and stuff... but yeah.
namenna.
4649 :D
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
To list them fully, my current majors at UCI are Japanese Language and Literature, B.A., and Comparative Linguistics, B.A. I have been learning that japanese language for almost three years now, and at UCI I have a veritable flood of native speakers I talk to on a daily basis.
The mentioning of my 'senmon' was to offer a semblance of truth to my statements, as it is expected that one with my experiecne would know what they were talking about.
Your continued use of 'ha' instead of 'wa' is aggregiously incorrect. One does not say 'watashi ha', so there is no reason why it would be written that way. You yourself has stated that you don't know much at all, infact the vast majority of your fluency is in speaking only, which does not lend itself well to the correct usage of the written characters. My earlier statement concerning beginners of the written language still stands, in that you are continuously confusing pronunciation with spelling, despite your insistence otherwise. In the case of romaji, they are one and the same. One cannot spell it 'ha' and say 'wa', that is not the correct particle. To think so otherwise is erroneous.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Also, to comment on your usage of seemingly random capitalizations to explain the lack of capitalizations is inadequate and misleading. In pronunciation guides, capital letters denote stressed and unstressed syllables. On the note of capitalizing japanese names when writing them in english, it IS appropriate..."Michiko" is still a proper name, no matter its origin language, and therefor deserves the same grammar rule attention as any other proper noun.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
And finally, "jouzo ja ..." is referring to one's skill in something. Saying "jouzo ja arimasen" is like saying "im not skilled". As is common in your average japanese statement outside of the classroom, it is acceptable to drop particles when the gist of the phrase is understood. To use every particle every time it is "necessary" would be redundant, obtuse, and in the end, inefficient. It is natural to have evolved this techniquie, and it functions in the same way as dropping the subject and the object when they are understood by the listener.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Furthermore, due to the dramatically different grammar structures present when comparing english to japanese, your second point is arguing semantics. A true translation would take the appropriate meaning in the original language and give a statement the the same meaning in the secondary. Saying that "watashiwa wa kissaten ni ikimasu" means "I cafe going" (which is its literal translation is wrong, because you're missing the point of the sentence completely.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Thanks for the reply, t3hj4p. I should have been more specific in my question: I meant OUR names. If you see, every username in here is missing the capitalization in their initial character. Anywhere else you have to capitalize the first letter of own names like in Rob, Bob, France, Lou, Trix, Coca-Cola, Yuki, etc. I feel strange typing t3hj4p instead of T3hj4p. qs instead of Qs. arirang777 instead of Arirang777. halume instead of Halume and the alike... Matane!