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Yaki Onigiri

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
Adding butter to yaki onigiri during the last stage of cooking adds a lovely layer of richess to the rice.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Cooling time 10 minutes
Course Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 4 persons

Equipment

  • Onigiri mold

Ingredients
  

Tare

Onigiri

Instructions
 

Make the tare

  • In a small sauce pan, gently boil the soy sauce, sake and mirin until reduced by half.
  • Cool the tare.

Make the onigiri

  • Measure two tablespoons of tare and stir into the cooked Japanese rice.
  • Brush the inside of the onigiri mold with a little water (this prevents the rice from sticking to the mold).
  • Fill the onigiri mold with the seasoned rice then position the cover and press to make the rice compact.
  • Unmold the onigiri.
  • Repeat until all the seasoned rice have been shaped.

Pan grill the onigiri

  • With the stove set to medium heat, brush the bottom of a frying pan with cooking oil.
  • Lay your onigiri, triangular side down (or the side with the largest flat surface, if your onigiri is not triangular), in the hot oil and cook until the underside forms a light crust. Turn the onigiri over to allow the opposite side to form a crust.
  • Brush the top of the onigiri (the one where a crust has already formed) with tare.
  • Flip the onigiri and brush the opposite side with tare.
  • Turn the onigiri one last time and place a sliver of butter on top.
  • Repeat with the rest of the onigiri.

Notes

Thanks to Marc Matsumoto for the butter tip.
Updated from a post originally published in March 10, 2021
Keyword Rice