Imagine fried chicken fillet sandwich but, instead of bread, the meat is stuffed between two layers of rice then wrapped with nori. Chicken katsu onigirazu is a portable breakfast, lunch or snack.
Onigirazu is a variant of onigiri but its history is not as old. While onigiri dates back to the 11th century, onigirazu was born in the 1990s in a manga series called “Cooking Papa”.
Chicken Katsu Onigirazu (Crispy Chicken and Rice Sandwich)
The prep and cooking time indicated below do not include prepping and cooking the chicken katsu, and the rice. Follow the links in the ingredients list to get the recipes for the chicken katsu and the tonkatsu sauce.
Ingredients
- 4 cups Japanese rice newly cooked
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 4 roasted nori sheets
- gari (pickled sushi ginger)
- 4 chicken katsu
- ½ cup tonkatsu sauce
- 1 cup finely sliced white cabbage divided into four portions
Instructions
- Spread the hot rice on a tray, drizzle in the rice vinegar and toss to distribute evenly.
- Leave the rice to cool, tossing often, until it reaches room temperature.
- Divide the rice into eight equal portions.
- Place a square sheet of cling film (larger than the nori sheet) on your work surface and position a nori sheet at the center.
- Take a portion of rice and arrange in a mound at the center of the nori sheet.
- Arrange strips of pickled ginger on top of the rice.
- Take a chicken katsu and press lightly on the rice.
- Spread tonkatu sauce on top of the chicken katsu.
- Take a portion of shredded cabbage and place on top of the chicken.
- Take another portion of rice and lightly press on the cabbage-topped chicken katsu.
- Gather the four corners of the nori sheet and fold in to enclose the fillings.
- Gather the four corners of the cling film and fold in to enclose the onigirazu.
- Using the remaining ingredients, make three more chicken katsu onigirazu.
- Serve the chicken katsu onigirazu right away or cut into halves to expose the fillings for a more visually appetizing look.
