Onigiri – Kombu
Savory braised kombu folded into warm rice — the quiet backbone of Japanese home cooking. From the Made in Japan plant-based cookbook.
Ingredients
| 2 cups (400g) | uncooked Japanese short-grain rice | |
| 2 1/4 cups (540ml) | water | |
| 2 | dried kombu strips (about 4 in/10cm each) | |
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | soy sauce |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | mirin |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | sake |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | sugar |
| 1/2 cup (120ml) | water, for soaking | |
| 4 | half-sheets of nori | |
| — | salt, for hands |
Instructions
- Soak the kombu strips in 1/2 cup (120ml) water for 30 minutes; reserve the soaking water. Cut the kombu into thin strips with scissors.
- Combine the kombu strips, soaking water, soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat for 15–20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Cool completely.
- Cook the rice as usual and let it cool slightly.
- With wet, salted hands, form onigiri using the braised kombu as the filling. Wrap with nori.