Tuna Mayo Onigiri + Avocado and Cheese
A fresh, new take on a traditional favorite with even more umami. It's the ultimate Japanese-inspired comfort food!
Ingredients
Rice
- ¾ cup Japanese short-grained rice equal to one "rice cooker cup"
- 200 ml water ⅞ US cup
- ¼ teaspoon salt fine-grain sea salt or kosher salt
Filling (& Topping)
- 1 can canned tuna oil or water-packed
- 1 teaspoon Umami Sauce by Kimono Mom
- 1 tablespoon Japanese mayonnaise
- 3 leaves fresh shiso (perilla leaf)
- 30 grams firm, mild cheese ⅓ cup
- 1 tablespoon bonito flakes about 1 g
- ½ avocado small to medium-sized
Wrap
- 1 sheet dried nori seaweed
Instructions
Cooking Rice
- Cook rice according to your rice cooker's directions or check out my suggestions on how to cook Japanese rice in the notes below.
Making the Filling
- Open can of tuna and drain out as much of the liquid as possible.
- Scoop tuna into a medium-sized bowl.
- Add Umami Sauce to tuna and stir.
- Add Japanese mayonnaise and mix together until all the mayonnaise is mixed into with the tuna.
- Rinse clean and dry shiso leaves. Cut into small pieces about 1 cm by 1 cm. Add to the tuna mayo and mix well.
- Cut cheese into small cubes (approx. 1 cm by 1 cm). Put in a separate bowl.
- Add bonito flakes on top of cheese cubes.
- Drizzle a few drops of Umami Sauce on top (about ¼ tsp) and mix to coat the cheese with bonito flakes evenly.
Preparing Rice
- Transfer freshly cooked rice from your rice cooker or pot to a large bowl or glass baking dish.
- Using a spatula, gently spread out the rice to cover the bottom of your bowl.
- Sprinkle with salt (¼ tsp) and mix into rice by lightly tossing and folding over using a spatula.
- Cool the rice until you no longer see clouds of steam and the rice has cooled just enough that you can hold it in your bare hands.
Shape Onigiri by Hand
- Fill a bowl with room temperature water and a small dish with salt. Keep these nearby to use as needed.
- Using your spatula, divide the cooked rice into three equal sections in your bowl or pan.
- Dip both of your (immaculately clean) hands into your bowl of water. Shake off the excess water.
- Using your hands or spatula, scoop up enough rice to make one onigiri.
- First, like making a snowball in two hands, gently form the rice into a sphere. Make it a ball shape but not too compact.
- Press the center of your ball of rice to make an indentation. Make it deep and wide. You want ample space to stuff lots of filling.
- Stuff fillings inside the indented space. You can use a spoon, chopsticks, or your fingers to press the fillings in to make space for adding more until the space is completely full and compacted.
- Cup the palms of your hand to enclose the filling inside the indented space, closing the opening tightly until you can no longer see the fillings.
- Place the sphere of rice in the palm of your non-dominant hand. Bend your palm to make a v-shaped "valley".
- Bend the fingers of your other hand to make an upside-down v-shape. Cover the rice ball with your V-shaped dominant hand. Your dominant hand makes a "mountain" to cover the rice— think Mt. Fuji.
- Then, gently squeeze the rice ball with your top v-shaped hand to form one corner of a triangle.
- Next, flip the rice ball 90 degrees towards you. The first corner of your triangle should now be resting on the palm of your bottom hand.
- Again, gently squeeze with your top, v-shaped hand to form another corner to make a triangle.
- Repeat this rotate and squeezing process until you've made a neat triangle shape.
Wrapping Onigiri with Nori Seaweed
- Cut nori seaweed sheet into strips with a sharp knife or kitchen scissors. I prefer to cut strips ⅓ of a full-size sheet. Trim strips shorter so the nori will cover ⅔s of each side of onigiri.
- Hold the onigiri in one hand. Place the strip of nori under the bottom edge of the rice ball, shiny side out and rough side against the rice.
- Wrap the ends of the nori up along the sides, pressing gently to secure it in place.
- Stand the onigiri vertical on a plate.
- Use a small spoon, chopsticks, or your fingers to create small divots (about 1 cm deep) in the top corners of each onigiri.
- Carefully place extra fillings into the divots, adjusting as needed to keep the toppings balanced and secure.
- Serving onigiri warm for the best taste. Or, set them aside to let them cool to room temperature.
Notes
Important note: Prepare and mix the onigiri filling before removing rice from your rice cooker or pot.
If needed, please find the resources for how to cook Japanese rice in my how to make easy onigiri recipe post.
The best ratio for Japanese white rice to water is 1 to 1.1 (or 1.2) when using a rice cooker.
If want to make 3 larger onigiri, I recommend using 1 cup of uncooked rice with 260 ml of water.
I use a heat-resistant shallow glass bowl or Pyrex baking dish for the cooked rice. Glass is preferable to a metal one because glass does not retain heat. A wooden salad bowl that isn't seasoned (garlic, etc) is another good option.
You can dip your spatula in the bowl of water so the rice doesn't stick to it.
In Japan, cooks use an uchiwa hand-held fan to cool down freshly cooked rice. You can use something like a piece of cardboard or stack of papers to use as a fan.
Ideally, attach the nori strips right before serving to maintain the crispness of the nori.
DID YOU TRY THIS RECIPE?Tag @eyesandhour on Instagram and hashtag it #eyesandhour