The popularity of onigiri, or Japanese rice balls, is only growing.
Kawahara Satoru presented onigiri on Monday at Järvenpää Citymarket. Eeva Paljakka
Ordinary Japanese people eat and make a lot of onigiri. It is fast food that is taken for lunch or eaten at home.
Onigiri are eaten in Japan at any time of the day, says the man who has run the Japanese store Tokyokan in Helsinki since 1987 together with his wife Norio Tomida.
According to Tomida, the world conquest of rice balls is well underway. They are also popular in other parts of Asia, and in Paris, for example, they are now sold on almost every street corner.
Generally triangular onigiri can also be rolled into balls. Onigiri is certainly one of the easiest Japanese dishes. Everyone can do it.
One big one, but still related to rice balls. To succeed, they need high-quality, Japanese rice.
Tomida and the Japanese onigiri master who paid a quick visit to Suiome Satoru Kawahara emphasize the importance of rice. Japanese rice is hard enough and stays moist and good for 3-4 hours after cooking.
Satoru spins an onigiri in six seconds. I can season the rice according to my preferences, for example with air-dried ham, cheddar cheese, smoked salmon or tuna.
Onigiri can also be rolled into balls. Eeva Paljakka
Onigiri is both easy to eat and easy to make. The cooked rice is seasoned with salt or soy, after that I add salmon or other raw material to it, and then just rotate it.
Tomida reminds us that in Japan the respect for sushi masters is so great that they don’t even make sushi at home. For this reason, even in Finland, you don’t often come across a sushi place owned by a Japanese person or a Japanese sushi chef.
A Japanese sushi chef must have many years of experience. Many Japanese people know how to make sushi, but they don’t want to make it, precisely out of respect for the sushi masters.
Onigi, on the other hand, is a rice ball that anyone can make.