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salmon onigiri

Salmon onigiri

This recipe for salmon onigiri is the easiest and tastiest one yet that is high in protein and full of flavors.
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Prep Time:10 minutes
Rice cooker time:55 minutes
Total Time:1 hour 5 minutes
Course: Appetizer, bento, Breakfast, Main Course, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: easy meals, onigiri, rice ball recipe, rice cooker recipe, salmon onigiri, salmon rice ball
Servings: 2 people

Equipment

  • 1 Rice cooker
  • 1 onigiri mold optional
  • 1 bowl

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb salmon filet
  • 5 tbsp cooking sake optional
  • 2 cups Japanese short grain rice (or medium grain) 2 cups using rice cooker cup or 1.5 using measuring cup (rice cooker cup is smaller than american measuring cup; 1 rice cooker cup is about 3/4 measuring cup)
  • 2 cups water (minus 3 tbsp to be exact) 2 cups using rice cooker cup or 1.5 using measuring cup (rice to water ratio is 1:1)
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp dashi powder
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp furikake
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onion
  • salt to taste
  • nori sheets seaweed sheet

Instructions

  • Coat the salmon in sake in a bowl and set aside. This step is optional but important if you want to get rid of the fishy smell of the salmon. 
    salmon sake
  • Pour 2 cups of rice into rice cooker bowl
  • Rinse rice under water and pour out the water. Repeat this step 4-5 times until the water is more transparent. In the first wash, the water is opaque. The water will not be translucent but should be significantly clearer than the first rinse. 
    wash rice
  • Pour filtered water up to the 2 line mark on the rice cooker. If your rice cooker does not have this, it is 1:1 ratio of rice to water (2 rice cooker cups or about 1.5 measuring cups of water)
    cook rice
  • Remove 3 tbsp of water from the rice cooker. This will prevent the rice from becoming too soft as water and juice will expell from salmon.
  • Remove salmon from sake and put salmon in the rice. Discard the sake.
  • Cook rice as usual in a regular cooking setting. My rice cooker cooks for 55 minutes. 
  • Once rice is done, mix salmon into the rice
    mix salmon in rice
  • Mix in the other ingredients: soy sauce, dashi powder, sugar, furikake, sesame oil, and green onion. The order does not matter, but make sure it is fully incorporated.
    mix furikake
  • Give it a taste test and adjust flavor if needed. You can add more salt here as well.
  • Once the flavors are to your liking, mold onigiri into onigiri
  • I am using an onigiri mold in this recipe; however, you can also shape the rice with your hands. (I linked this 6 onigiri mold above)
    onigiri mold
  • Wrap nori from one side of the onigiri to the other. You can cover the entire onigiri in nori if you like or a small portion like I did here.
    nori
  • Serve and enjoy!