Salmon Onigiri

Song:  Sylvan Song

Artist:  Heart

Spring is here...

and the snow is melting in the mountains.

I took these photos yesterday.

I went to my mother's house early today.

We would be eating salmon in a new way.

Salmon Onigiri (Rice Ball)

I defrosted 3 fillets of salmon.

As we had previously discussed the night before...

my mother had the rice already cooked by my arrival time...

and she allowed an hour for the rice to cool some...

as she would be molding the rice by hand.

I then poached the salmon fillets.

Right after cooking...

I quartered each fillet in preparation to fill...one for each rice ball.

As the salmon cooled...

we then ate a Broccoli and Daikon seed sprout salad

(I sprout seeds at my mother's house for our evening meal's salads).

I also mix up the dressing fresh.

The salads are fresh, very healthful, and absolutely delicious.

To start with...

simply scoop out a large bowl of rice to start with.

You MUST ensure the rice and salmon are cool enough to handle with bare hands...

BEFORE you do this step!

Wet you hands so the rice does not stick to them...

and lightly salt one of the palms of your hands.

Then...

put a handful of rice in your holding hand.

Add one quartered fillet salmon piece inside a hollow in the rice.

Then...

add more rice on top...

lightly salt one of your palms...

and form the rice into a triangle.

Take one half a sheet of seasoned Nori...

and fold over the triangle.

I had precut the full sheets of Nori into halves...

and I store them in an airtight Pyrex container 

(rubber seal and leveraging pressure clamps on the lid).

It is then done.

In case you are wondering as to the shape...

why a triangle?

I have seen Onigiri in cylindrical shapes...

as well as in an insane spherical shape.

NO

The triangle wins on all aspects.

It has to do with the efficient use of the rice to form a shape which will...

easily hold its shape, be easy to make with rectangular nori shapes covering it...

be easy to fully pack into a square or rectangular lunch box...

will keep the inner ingredient to rice at a constant ratio...bite after bite...

be easy to hold and eat as it will not fall apart as will the other shapes.

Okay...

once more with more detailed photos.

Wet your finger in water to make the Nori stick to each other at the overlapping folds.

Now...

for some variations...

various rice seasonings (Furikake)...

for the outside of the rice balls instead of nori wrapping.

The same steps...

except for adding salt...

add the seasoning...

and omit the step of wrapping with nori.

There you have it.

The whole container of rice (3 cups uncooked rice forms 5 cups cooked)...

is used here...15 Onigiri.

Only the 12 on the left had salmon in them.

The three on the right were just rice balls with no filling.

Umeboshi...

a very popular Japanese pickled plum.

I always have my mother stocked with these...

as they are her favorite type of pickle.

We are ready to eat our meal.

You may easily see the ratio of salmon to rice in these pictures.

Onigiri is a perfect picnic food...

as it gives a lot of good food in a small ready to eat package.

By the time we finished our meal...

these were left over...

and I took this plate home.

Alex had a couple of them...

and I finished off the rest later that night.

Before the night ended (in total)...

I had eaten 8 of the Onigiri  :)