hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a shot at a Japanese rice ball or “onigiri” inspired by the now famous Brock scene from Pokemon. For those unfamiliar, an onigiri is a very popular Japanese snack and/or small bite dish comprised of sushi rice, nori seaweed, and most typically, some form of protein or veggie based filling. Today we’ll be doing ours with a miso glazed salmon borrowed from our fish taco recipe, but an onigiri can contain a wide variety of other savory proteins or veggies, or often times, nothing at all.
This of course means that the comedy of this Pokemon scene is that the english translation with Brock’s voiceover takes on some WIDE artist liberties, when referring to our onigiri as a “jelly filled donut,” which of course, it is not. So! We’ll be taking a look at all of this in a moment, as well as a bonus attempt at this crispy fried onigiri that has been floating around the internet for a while, and more importantly, a closer look at some fundamental reasons why…onigiri is not meant to be fried, even if it is extremely tasty. Hope you try it.
Yields 8
INGREDIENTS
1lb skin on salmon fillets
2 cups rice
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp white sugar
nori
furikake
peanut oil
INGREDIENTS (glaze)
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp miso paste
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp mirin
PREP
CRUSH and mince 4 cloves of garlic, set aside
MINCE ginger, set aside
RINSE the rice until the water runs clear, then cook in a rice cooker with enough water to reach the first knuckle of your pointer finger, a
DISSOLVE the white sugar in 4 tbsp rice vinegar, then combine with the cooked rice, reserving 1/2 a cup of rice
COMBINE all glaze ingredients, set aside
SLICE the nori into strips, set aside
COAT the salmon with glaze on the flesh side only (not the skin side), set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the salmon to the wok skin-side down, then sear for 2.5 minutes undisturbed, flip, and sear for an additional 1.5 minutes
REMOVE from heat, then remove the skin of the salmon, and shred
COMBINE the shredded salmon with the sushi rice plus 2 tbsp additional glaze
ADD the rice to a onigiri mold, then add the nori strips and furikake
CRISPY ONIGIRI
REHEAT the wok as hot as possible, add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the onigiri and sear for 2.5 minutes on each side
WRAP in nori and furikake