Rainy season is still upon us but full-blown summer is pushing its way through the clouds. Racing on my bike for my per usual frantic ride to the station I was greeted with a 'Fox Wedding'; the Japanese foxes of lore carry their wedding processions on days when the sun shines through the rain.
I like the Asian and Occidental images and stories associated with the fox-- a playful trickster, a beautiful & beguiling & dangerous woman, the guardian of the rice granary and business, a creature that doesn't have to be all good or all bad. Like any trickster, the fox seems to follow its own whims. An interesting linguistic note from Mandarin Chinese is that body odor is referred to as fox stink. After Kurosawa's film Dreams, I always think of them on those rainy days full of sunshine. Not looking for rainbows, but fox weddings...
The white foxes are thought to be especially magical.
Japanese foxes like to eat inari zushi, vinegar-rice stuffed tofu pockets. But today, for the wedding of the foxes in my neighborhood, we will have onigiri--rice balls. Rice balls are most often triangular, but mine are round; one of the first things that honorable husband taught me to prepare. His reasoning was so compelling that we are (almost) exclusively a round onigiri household. He said, "A big round rice ball is a samurai rice ball." And who can argue/counterpoint with that? Plus, they are much more forgiving to shape.
The Joy of Onigiri:
Very close to the top of my list of simple pleasures in the art of living, is onigiri. I thank Japan for teaching me about shower toilets and leisurely bathing, while I might thank the Midwest for thunderstorms and chatting on porches or New Mexico for sunsets and green chile. Think of the rice ball as you would a sandwich--comes in as much variety as your imagination, is portable, and the perfect thing to throw in your picnic basket, tuck in your purse or bring along on a hike. As with a sandwich, there really isn't any wrong way to make onigiri; just need rice, as you would bread.
So these are onigiri with hijiki, carrot and sesame seed. Hijiki is a kind of seaweed or sea vegetable. It's the darling of the macrobiotic movement. If you're eating macrobiotically, you can bet you'll be eating shapely little pieces of black hijiki. It's also the principle side dish to much Japanese homestyle cooking; that being a simmered hijiki and carrot with sesame seed side. And this is probably why I have hijiki onigiri, I was 'upcycling' a dish from a previous meal.
Method
Using plastic wrap, put 1/2 to one cup of rice in the center of your plastic. Flatten your rice a bit and in the center place your chosen filling. Bring the sides of the wrap together and shape into a ball, maneuvering the rice and wrap to keep your filling in the center. It's that easy.
Sometimes a little sprinkle of sea salt is nice. If you are handling your rice without plastic wrap, some water on your hands will keep everything from sticking to your hands. Oh, and use 'sticky rice', the grains are plump and will stick better than a long-grained variety.
Some suggested fillings:
A salted plum, umeboshi, is most traditional
Tuna fish and mayonnaise is surprisingly popular and tasty
Anything 'pickled', can be nice.
You can also wrap your onigiri with 'nori' sheets. And if you are going for an onigiri with the mixture throughout the ball, premix and then shape your onigiri. Because in Japan, the simmered side dish is such a staple, the leftovers are often brought back to life in rice balls. Simmered dishes are another topic for another day, but basically the broth for the simmering will be soy sauce, dashi, rice wine and sugar. To know the essence of Japanese cooking is to know the harmony of these flavors.
I want to eat onigiri, right now...
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