Ingredients
Serves 4-61 cup short grain white calrose rice
1/3 cup wild rice
1/3 cup black quinoa
1/3 cup red quinoa
1/3 cup black rice
1/3 cup red (Thai) rice
Dried flat seaweed (can be the sheets, can also be the individual sachet pieces)
Fresh ground salt
Optional:
1/3 cup adzuki beans
1/3 cup mung beans
Optional fillings:
Tinned tuna
Umeboshi plums
Japanese daikon pickle
Method
Get 1/3 of a cup of every grain EXCEPT WHITE RICE and soak overnight, combined, in the pot in which you intend to cook the rice.
Optional: Add 1/3 cup of adzuki beans and/or 1/3 cup of mung beans. Also soak overnight in the same pot. One of my daughters LOVES the beans, the other refuses to eat them! So I either make it without or I have to make two pots. I like the adzuki beans because my Japanese uncle always adds them to his rice and it reminds me of Japan.
The following day, about half an hour before you're ready to start cooking, add ONE CUP OF SHORTGRAIN, WHITE RICE. I have tried cooking this with brown rice but you need the white rice for the starch and stickiness. Wash and rinse the whole pot. The water will be dark red. This is good! Rinse it a couple of times.
Put enough water in the pot for there to be 1cm of water above the grains/rice. Cook on high with lid on until it starts to froth and boil. Leave the lid on and cook for another 10 minutes on low. All the liquid should be absorbed.
While the rice is still warm, press it into your onigiri mould. It works best if the mould has been rinsed in cold water and is still a bit damp. Unmould the onigiri, dust in fresh-ground salt, then wrap in seaweed. Eat immediately! If you're sending them to school or there's a lag between the making and the eating, try to keep the seaweed separate so it stays crispy then add it at the last minute.
Note:
This totally works with just white rice, cooked with absorption method.
Onigiri moulds are available from Asian grocers for around $3.00.
Options:
Stuff the onigiri with pickles, tuna, umeboshi plum, etc.
Tip:
Once made, the onigiri retain their texture better if NOT refrigerated. It tends to dry out the rice. If they are travelling for a long time, sure, stick in fridge. If not, leave on kitchen bench.