ONIGIRI

1. Rinse and gently wash the rice. Place the rice and 1 cup of water in a saucepan and set aside to soak for 20 minutes. *
2. Add the remaining ¾ cups of water to the pot and boil on high heat for 5 minutes.
3. Reduce the heat down to low, cover, and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, or until rice is cooked. *
4. Remove the rice from the heat, cover with a towel, and let it cool for 15 minutes with the lid on.
5. To prepare the rice parcels, sprinkle a little salt onto the palm of one hand, then scoop about 2 tablespoons of rice onto it. **
6. Flatten the rice and make a depression in the centre.
7. Place your choice of filling in the depression. Then, mould the rice so that the filling is enclosed. ***
8. Hold the rice parcel in one cupped hand and gently compress it with your other flattened hand. The cupped hand will form one corner of the triangular shape. Rotate the onigiri accordingly to mould each corner to form a triangular shape.
9. Wrap a piece of nori around the base of each onigiri.
10. Repeat steps 5-9 until all the rice is used up.
11. Set onigiri aside on a platter and cover with shrink wrap until ready to consume to avoid drying out the rice.
12. Serve with sliced daikon radish on the side, as a garnish.

* Alternatively, you could use a rice cooker to cook the rice. The cooking instructions will differ depending on the brand of the rice cooker.

** I found it very helpful to have a bowl of water prepared, on the side, so that I may wet my hands in it before sprinkling salt on my palm. This ensures that the rice will not get stuck to your hands.

*** Instead of placing the filling in the center, you could also mix it in with the rice before shaping so that it is evenly distributed throughout the onigiri.