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Japan's Comfort Food: The Onigiri
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- boringg 3y agoBeen making this for my children - they love it. Easy guaranteed eaten food for them which is a big win in our books.
- lawgimenez 3y agoWe have our own version here in the Philippines https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/12323830-puto-mayasticky-rice https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/12323830-puto-mayasticky-rice
- xedeon 3y agoThat’s more of a dessert isn’t it? Onigiri are typically savory. A closer comparison would be pusô or tamu from Cebu. Also known as “hanging rice”. While pusô itself usually contains plain rice, it is often eaten with savory dishes or as part of a larger meal.
- lawgimenez 3y agoYes you’re right. I’m from Cebu definitely hanging rice.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- alangou 3y agoThere is no feeling so reassuring in Japan as knowing I am always within a 3 minute walk of yet another tuna mayo onigiri.
- boringg 3y agoDid you ever see whole grain rice onigiri or was it always white short grain rice? I feel like whole grain would be blasphemy over there.
- LiquidSky 3y agoWhy would anyone ever voluntarily eat a whole grain rice onigiri?
- bobthepanda 3y agoWhite rice has one of the highest glycemic indexes. Japan has a 12% diabetes rate, which is just above the US at 11%.
- gnicholas 3y agoIIRC sticky rice is the worst among white rices. I find it tasty but try to eat basmati most of the time.
- dr-detroit 3y ago[dead]
- slothtrop 3y agothis says it's 7% in Japan: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/diabetes-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/diabetes-... , but I found another source that says 12% for 2016. Diabetes scales with obesity and age. Japan has a very old population, but less obesity than the US. White rice despite its glycemic index is not super high calorie. If it's a contributing favor, it's because of weight-gain, not glycemic index. edit: better source: https://www.diabetesatlas.org/data/en/country/101/jp.html https://www.diabetesatlas.org/data/en/country/101/jp.html, https://www.diabetesatlas.org/data/en/country/211/us.html https://www.diabetesatlas.org/data/en/country/211/us.html There's more diabetes in the US.
- ohxh 3y agoThere’s a fun version of this that they have at 7-11 (or 7 & I) there. Probably other convenience stores too. They come in a plastic wrapper that separates the nori from the rice and filling so it doesn’t get soggy. When you pull a little tab, it somehow removes the plastic from in between without messing up the shape. Magic!
- layer8 3y agoYou haven’t looked at the article, did you?
- boringg 3y agoRight? It's literally the majority of the article .. the onigiri wars.
- defaultcompany 3y agoThe article talks about this at the end. I’m confused about how it works though.
- andreareina 3y agoThere are two layers of plastic wrap, one on either side of the nori. It works because there's no nori at the side and that's the direction you pull the plastic off.
- jncfhnb 3y agoYou have to be pretty specific about how you pull it apart. Most people will ruin their first onigiri because they do it wrong. But basically you break a seal and then pull the plastic out on each side, sliding them out.
- wkat4242 3y agoYeah there's instructions on them but they're in Japanese and the pictures aren't very clear in my experience. But it's not a big deal if you're going to eat it right away because the nori doesn't get soggy that quickly.
- kylegalbraith 3y agoThis is the magical stuff that I love finding on HN. We don’t make this enough at home.
- kizunajp 3y agoAuthor here. Thank you for the kind words! <Shameless plug> This post is part of a newsletter we write semi-regularly. If you found this interesting, do take a look at our other pieces and consider subscribing! </plug>
- xenodium 3y agoOn a tangent, I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a newsletter. What are you using to run yours?
- xrisk 3y agoJust spent a great half-hour going through your blog. Great work! :)
- smarks 3y agoThe link to the video showing how to unwrap an onigiri was very helpful! I’ve encountered that wrapping before but I found it confusing. (I don’t read Japanese and I couldn’t figure it out from the diagrams.)
- Tiktaalik 3y agoPractically lived off of 7/11 onigiri for lunches when I was last on vacation in Japan. Apparently some local 7/11s now stock onigiri. I'll have to try it out. Hope it takes off.
- dec0dedab0de 3y agoAlso known as jelly filled donuts to american fans of pokémon.
- bigstrat2003 3y agoOr dumplings, for people who played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in the West.
- bitwize 3y ago"Boy, I sure am glad we stopped for hot dogs!" "Yes! And... these flavor sticks really added to the taste!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrriBr-46_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrriBr-46_I The opening to each stage of Alex Kidd featured the title character happily munching an onigiri. Sega changed it to a cheeseburger for the USA release of the game.
- traeregan 3y agoI've been on two trips to Japan - 2014 and 2023. We enjoyed eating a lot of onigiri on both trips. During the latter trip I noticed that the ¥ price hadn't changed much but the amount of filling (various proteins) had gone down considerably, which makes sense from a business perspective. We've tried making them at home a couple of times but haven't perfected it yet. Reading this is motivating me to give it another shot soon.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoYou can find onigiri at independent shops not only convenience stores, with good price and better fillings/quantity. Convenience stores seem cheap compared with America but everything they sell is expensive locally There are also onigiri adjacent foods worth exploring like tenmusu. I love this tiny place in Tsu (Mie prefecture capital) that serves 6 of them with soup for about $3, a full meal offered with dine-in, even though it’s now Michelin recommended. It's probably 1/3 the price of convenience store onigiri per unit cost and it's freshly made to order.
- neom 3y agoOh don't get me started. In Korea, the size of the samgakgimbap has increased in some cases, and the price DECREASED in some cases... but the filling, ugh....!!!! Not only has the amount of filling decreased, but the quality is going down. Some of the tuna mayo ones have basically no mayo in them anymore, the tuna quality has also gone down. If I wanted rice and seaweed I'd buy rice and seaweed...!!!! And this isn't just CU/711/etc, it's everywhere! </rant>
- riversflow 3y agoWell one thing that is sort of notable about Japan/Onigiri but left off this blog is that they will all contain fish. Being a vegetarian in Japan was miserable. I want to go back with a pack of Protein bars so I can travel and feel decent. I practically subsisted off potato chips on my trip. Edit: The number of people telling me I should have hired a guide is hilarious. I couldn't have afforded that. I did go with 2 Japanese speakers, but wasn't with them the whole time. I asked for help often, and got it (Japan is so cool like that <3), but when I was there in 2017 I had a really hard time with my diet. I so wish I would have brought protein bars because I would have felt better, been more present as a result, and spent less time thinking about food/my diet and more time taking in the experience. Also, being vegetarian is going to be miserable to me most places I go, as my home in California is one of the best places to be veg in the world. I find the mid-West just as bad as Japan, for example. Being vegetarian, fit and trim means I have to be very careful of my macros. Getting adequate dietary protien is hard even at home.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoUmeboshi onigiri still contain fish broth ingredients? There’s always the plain salted onigiri too Btw careful with chips in Japan, most varieties have meat extracts in them
- ASalazarMX 3y agoA local guide would be invaluable to recommend vegetarians options. Also, be very explicit if eggs or milk are acceptable, because there's very few strict vegetarians in Japan. Even monks and nuns who practice Buddhist vegetarianism consume milk.
- dpassens 3y agoEggs and milk are vegetarian, just not vegan.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoEggs or dairy specific abstinence is more associated with variations of vegetarianism than far stricter veganism, for example lacto-vegetarianism.
- sorokod 3y agoThere is a cheap triangular contraption which allows you to make onigiri yourself to your preferred specification. You may want to invest in proper rice and nori, it is smooth sailing after that.
- brcmthrowaway 3y agoWhere can I get a vegetarian friendly version of this in San Francisco?
- anigbrowl 3y agoJapantown has some vegetarian restaurants, and since they get a lot of tourists they're used to specific food requests. Just ask before you sit down. There's also a Japanese supermarket there and you can check the ingredients list on the packaged food in the refrigerated section.
- legerdemain 3y agoThere is now a US chain for onigiri: Onigilly. About a third of the menu is vegan and gluten-free.
- wkat4242 3y agoI'd love to know the same for Barcelona :) I bought some Onigiri at the Manga Salon (a big annual manga convention) but I have no idea where they are available year-round.
- naet 3y agoYou'll find a million places to get them if you search yelp or google maps but the ones most like the article are likely found at asian grocery stores. Woori or Nijiya both have a good variety of them and should have some vegetarian ones like pickled plum. Across the bay at Berkeley Bowl they make some an surprisingly good ones too.
- rich90usa 3y agoNijiya Market in Japantown has at least plain seaweed Onigiri in far right of the fridge near the entrance for $2.79. Unfortunately it was the same price as ones with filling.
- anigbrowl 3y agoThere is a long-running rivalry between the east and west of Japan. Kansai (west) includes cities like Kyoto and Osaka, and Kantou (east) includes Tokyo and Yokohama. For reasons the author doesn’t understand well, the people of Kansai and Kantou pride themselves on these differences. The shape of the country historically made for roughly bipolar military confrontations, involving shifting alliances between the many warlords. Centuries ago, Kyoto was the Imperial Capital and Osaka the economic capital. West of Japan are Korea and China, and the commercial and cultural trade made the region wealthy and powerful. Near the end of the 16th century, a warlord named Nobunaga managed to unify most of Japan, but was betrayed by an associate. An intense struggle for control ensued, culminating in a battle at Segihara in 1600, which is more or less the middle of the country. The winner, a general named Tokugawa Ieyasu, became a Shogun (military governor, nominally in service of the Emperor but pragmatically in charge) and was based in Edo, now named Tokyo. His defeated rival was based in, you guessed it, Osaka. Edo was just a small fishing village with a broken-down castle until Ieyasu showed up around 1590, rebuilt the castle, and made the area into his base. After winning the battle of Segihara he was mostly generous in victory, but required other warlords to maintain households in Edo (making them de facto hostages) and contribute money and labor to build out the infrastructure there; within 5 years Edo was a large city of ~150k. Tokugawa also closed the country and banned foreign trade, not least to prevent his rivals from raising armies and capital overseas. His family continued to rule Japan until the Shogunate was abolished and the country opened up the outside world in the 19th century. Edo was renamed Tokyo and made the official capital, although the Imperial family continued to reside in Kyoto until Emperor Taisho moved to Tokyo in the early 20th century.
- Jensson 3y ago> Edo was renamed Tokyo and made the official capital It is funny that they just reversed Kyoto when they picked that name. I wonder why they did that. Edit: Apparently "kyo" just means capitol and Tokyo is eastern capitol and Kyoto is capitol city. But it wouldn't surprise me if they picked those names as a pun to make the names similar.
- mistermark 3y ago
- ilamont 3y agoIn Taiwan there is a variation of 飯糰/rice balls shaped like a triangle but no seaweed wrapping, usually with 肉鬆 (pork floss) in the middle, which have been around forever as a breakfast item. The Japanese type wrapped in seaweed with better ingredients started popping up in 7-elevens about 15 or 20 years ago, and are known as 日式飯糰 ("Japanese food rice balls"). I think they cost about NT$40-50, or around US$1.50. It's not enough for a meal, but as a snack they're great.
- hawflakes 3y ago飯糰 also come in a Shanghainese variety (粢飯）. They're long and stuffed with a deep fried dough stick 油條, the pork floss, and sugar. As well as a savory variety with mustard greens 榨菜. Seems like the Taiwanese version is fusion of both Chinese and Japanese styles for Taiwanese tastes.
- maxglute 3y agoMcDonald's had nice rice bun burgers in Asia. Apparently originated in Japan (MOS chain), and also popular in Korea. I'm still waiting for this variation to make it's way to the west. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_burger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_burger
- wexomania 3y agoI love onigiri, but find it difficult to make them into triangles, I got frustrates one day, threw all the ingredients into a bowl and stirred, and I have enjoyed Onigiribowl(patent pending/s) ever since.
- lidavidm 3y agoYou might enjoy takikomi gohan.
- ricardobeat 3y agoThat’s kind of what chirashizushi is, it just usually has a lot more complex toppings and you don’t stir them into the rice. You can also buy a triangle-shaped rice press and ready-made onigiri packaging at any japanese grocery store, makes it a lot easier.
- layer8 3y agoThe trick is to use the bend of your hand as a mold for each side. I’m sure there’s a multitude of YouTube videos showing how.
- aidenn0 3y agoFor those of you as clumsy as I am, you can form onigiri by pressing it into the corner of a Ziplock bag. Just dampen the inside of the bag slightly first to reduce the rice sticking to the bag. If you're making Shio onigiri, you can salt the water.
- ptelomere 3y agoMy girls join the Girlscout in Japan. When they have outings, they'll prepare "girlben" which is short for "girlscout's bento/lunchbox", which is literally just 2 or 3 onigiris with whatever ingredients they want.
- blackcat30 3y agoThe best Onigiri are the ones that you nigiru yourself, homemade. Konibini Onigiri are convenient in a pinch, but they pale in comparison to homemade ongiri from some who know the right nigirikata techniques. Plus, homemade has way more variety, the choices of what you can put in them and mix with them are endless, furikake is great for making ongiri. I wouldn't consider it a comfort food, I think it would be more correct to compare it to the likes of a sandwich in many Western countries.
- tmm84 3y agoI agree, they most closely resemble sandwiches from Western cooking. I think Konbini ones are just bland most of the time. A few of the super markets that make their own seem to taste better in my opinion than the Konbini ones. I do think the onigiri with tempura on the inside is a real treat. However, sometimes I want just plain salted rice ones if I am in a rush and eating pre-made super market foods.
- maxglute 3y agoYeah I found most convenience store Onigiri extremely mid, like vending machine sandwichs until I had some home made ones.
- jongjong 3y agoI love Japanese food. I really like recipes which focus on the flavor of a specific ingredient. Japanese food like Sushi and Onigiri made me realize how good rice tastes. Kind of like how French and Italian food made me realize how good wheat tastes. In terms of wheat, Italians mastered the savory and French mastered the sweets. In all these cases, the grain is treated as the central ingredient. It's an ingredient which most people consider bland, and yet it takes the leading role in many recipes.
- ptero 3y agoIs 100g mentioned in the writeup a common size? A few times I tried it, visiting friends (in the US) the onigiri felt smaller than this. Although maybe they felt smaller because they disappeared so fast.
- turtlebits 3y agoOn the scale of things you can wrap in rice, Onigiri is a 2/10 for me. I can understand it for kids, its cheap, easy to make and relatively healthy, but the filling could be so much more creative. IME the Chinese fan tuan (饭团) is so much better.
- fennecfoxy 3y agoCuriously, I wondered why many onigiri we see are triangular in shape, I found https://onlinemuseum.net/cuisine/onigiri/onigiri https://onlinemuseum.net/cuisine/onigiri/onigiri and others which seems to claim that this is because they're formed in the shape of mountains to drive off spirits. But if you ask me, this is either true or is simply another one of those things, where it happened so long ago that nobody really knows the answer for sure.