onigirazu

Just after I wrote about chigiri pan or pull apart bread buns in my previous post, I came to know about onigirazu, another (not too new) food trend in Japan.

I was at the local bookstore browsing the shelves of cookbooks when the text "不用捏饭团" on a book spine caught my attention. The Chinese text means rice ball or "onigiri" that is made without having to shape or squeeze.

"Onigirazu" or "不用捏饭团" are basically rice balls made by wrapping layers of rice and fillings with a square sheet of seaweed into a parcel which is then sliced into half, just like a sandwich. Due to the square shape and wrapping method, onigirazu are more versatile than onigiri when it comes to the choices of the fillings. You can wrap it with ham, sausages, eggs (be it hard boiled, scrambled, sunny-side-ups), tuna, salmon, cheese, pork cutlets, salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, ladies fingers, etc, etc.

For my first attempt at making onigirazu, I wrapped them with Korean spicy stir-fried pork, egg and salad greens. I seasoned the rice with some sesame oil and salt to make it more flavourful. Everyone enjoyed this humble and delicious lunch especially my younger child who loves seaweed wrapped rice balls, be it onigiri, maki or kimbap, and now onigirazu ;)

If you are interested to give these rice sandwiches a try, you may want to refer to this article which provides a tutorial on how to go about making them. Have fun!