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Yaki onigiri freeze extremely well, retaining their shape and flavor when packed in bento lunches and eaten at room temperature (important: reheat in the microwave before packing). Yaki onigiri are classic izakaya (pub) or bento food -- very nostalgic for us. I'm lucky my husband didn't eat all of them when I was making them!
First I made rice balls with triangular onigiri molds, then lightly firmed them up with my salted, wet hands for a flavor boost. Using molds is optional, of course -- you could form them freehand if you like. In Japan, I usually saw yaki onigiri without stuffing or nori wrapping, but make them however you like best. You can grill them on an indoor fish grill (shown here), a grilling rack placed directly on a gas burner, an outside gas or charcoal grill, inside grill pan, etc. (EDIT: you can also make them over low heat in a nonstick frying pan lightly oiled with vegetable oil.)
First heat the grill to medium heat, place the onigiri on the grill, and don't move them at all for several minutes. Gently turn it over once the bottom is lightly browned as shown here. Grill the bottom half until browned, then turn down the heat to low.
With the heat now reduced to low, lightly brush the browned top with soy sauce and turn it over so that it heats through. Brush the other browned side with soy sauce, and turn it over again so that both sides have been grilled twice: once plain, and once with soy sauce. If you like, you can also brush the sides with soy sauce and grill those as well. The onigiri should now have a crisp outside crust.
It's now ready to eat, pack in your lunch, or freeze. To freeze, first wrap each individual onigiri in plastic wrap, freeze, then put them all in a freezer bag for longer-term storage (sucking the air out of the bag with a straw -- think of do-it-yourself FoodSaver vacuum-packing). To use a frozen yaki onigiri, it's important to reheat it first in the microwave before packing (on Cook until it's warm), otherwise the texture of the soft rice inside will be nasty. The crunchy exterior softens in the freezing/reheating, but otherwise tastes the same as when it's fresh.
My son had a similar bento today, but with pre-frozen onigiri rolled in sakura denbu (sweet, colored fish flakes) and red hana ebi (savory, colored fish powder).
Surprisingly, you can actually prepare onigiri in advance and stash them in the freezer. No, seriously, you can -- it's in Japanese-language bento books and I saw people do it when I lived in Japan. The trick is to use very fresh rice (that's moist and hasn't been sitting in the rice cooker for hours), wrap each onigiri individually before freezing, and after you take them out of the freezer be sure to heat them in the microwave until they're warm and soft again. If you thaw them on the counter or in the refrigerator the texture will be hard and nasty, so the microwave step is very important. (EDIT: If you're concerned about microwaving food wrapped with plastic wrap, unwrap the frozen rice, place it in a bowl, then cover the bowl with a lid, microwave-safe cover or plastic wrap that doesn't touch the surface of the food. Then microwave until warm.)
In this photo I put all of the freshly wrapped, warm onigiri (shaped in molds) on a metal pie plate to speed freezing.
After freezing, I put them in a labelled freezer bag and sucked all of the air out of the bag with a straw before sealing (like do-it-yourself FoodSaver vacuum packing). This helps ward off freezer burn.
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First heat the grill to medium heat, place the onigiri on the grill, and don't move them at all for several minutes. Gently turn it over once the bottom is lightly browned as shown here. Grill the bottom half until browned, then turn down the heat to low.
With the heat now reduced to low, lightly brush the browned top with soy sauce and turn it over so that it heats through. Brush the other browned side with soy sauce, and turn it over again so that both sides have been grilled twice: once plain, and once with soy sauce. If you like, you can also brush the sides with soy sauce and grill those as well. The onigiri should now have a crisp outside crust.
It's now ready to eat, pack in your lunch, or freeze. To freeze, first wrap each individual onigiri in plastic wrap, freeze, then put them all in a freezer bag for longer-term storage (sucking the air out of the bag with a straw -- think of do-it-yourself FoodSaver vacuum-packing). To use a frozen yaki onigiri, it's important to reheat it first in the microwave before packing (on Cook until it's warm), otherwise the texture of the soft rice inside will be nasty. The crunchy exterior softens in the freezing/reheating, but otherwise tastes the same as when it's fresh.
My son had a similar bento today, but with pre-frozen onigiri rolled in sakura denbu (sweet, colored fish flakes) and red hana ebi (savory, colored fish powder).
Surprisingly, you can actually prepare onigiri in advance and stash them in the freezer. No, seriously, you can -- it's in Japanese-language bento books and I saw people do it when I lived in Japan. The trick is to use very fresh rice (that's moist and hasn't been sitting in the rice cooker for hours), wrap each onigiri individually before freezing, and after you take them out of the freezer be sure to heat them in the microwave until they're warm and soft again. If you thaw them on the counter or in the refrigerator the texture will be hard and nasty, so the microwave step is very important. (EDIT: If you're concerned about microwaving food wrapped with plastic wrap, unwrap the frozen rice, place it in a bowl, then cover the bowl with a lid, microwave-safe cover or plastic wrap that doesn't touch the surface of the food. Then microwave until warm.)
In this photo I put all of the freshly wrapped, warm onigiri (shaped in molds) on a metal pie plate to speed freezing.
After freezing, I put them in a labelled freezer bag and sucked all of the air out of the bag with a straw before sealing (like do-it-yourself FoodSaver vacuum packing). This helps ward off freezer burn.
f you'd like to vote for this blog in the Blogger's Choice Awards (nominated for Best Food Blog), click here (you can vote for multiple blogs in the same category). Thank you for your support!
Comments
Is that real octopus by the way?
That is real octopus in the bento, BTW -- this big Korean supermarket in South San Francisco has a big salad-bar setup of assorted panchan. They were out of my favorite this time, though (the little tiny sweet chili crabs).
When you reheat your frozen onigiri I'm assuming you take the plastic wrap off so it doesn't melt, but do you cover it with anything or just leave it on a plate?
Also I've got some great jello molds I would love to use the knox juice jello recipe with but they're all of the variety that you take them out of the mold to serve. Do you think the jello would be firm enough to hold its shape in a fairly cool office? I figure I'll put them inside a muffin wrapper or something at first but I'm afraid they'll melt all over the rest of my lunch.
And finally how would you say frozen spaghetti holds up texture wise? I almost always have left over pasta when I cooke but I always throw it away because it just gets so soggy if you put it in the fridge over night.
Thank you!!
1) I leave the plastic wrap on the frozen onigiri when microwaving to keep the moisture in the rice, then let it cool a little in the plastic wrap before unwrapping. The plastic wrap doesn't melt in the microwave.
2) The Knox juice jello recipe that I used (1 packet of Knox per total of 1 cup juice) produces a very firm gelatin that's much more similar to Jello Jigglers than regular jello. It'd definitely hold its shape at room temperature all day without melting. You'll want to dip the bottom of the mold in hot/warm water for 15 seconds before unmolding, but you probably know that already. Hope it works out for you!
3) The frozen spaghetti itself wasn't bad, but it did absorb some of the sauce in sitting/defrosting. Because my 2-year-old likes softer pasta, I've been making it that way more lately (when it's mostly for us I take it out more al dente). So I didn't notice a big texture difference. One nice thing to do with leftover refrigerated, sauced pasta is to turn it into a frittata (mix it in with beaten egg, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, pepper, maybe a little parsley or other fresh green -- any cook). Maybe a change in texture might not bother you as much if the pasta is just an element in an overgrown omelette?
If you don't mind my asking, how do you wrap the molded ones effectively? I made a batch of triangular ones today, and those went well, but I'm having a hard time picturing how to wrap molded ones without deforming them. Do you line the molds themselves with cling flim?
Thank you so much!
This makes it MUCH more likely that I'll start including onigri in my lunches!
I ended up putting all the crumbles in a bowl, nuking them some more, and then reshaping them, they were ok after that. Thanks for your help. I'm going to have to try freezing again, I'm not giving up!
Thanks for the article! Will definitely try it if I can find a way to de-frost them :D
I've also toasted onigiri (brushed with soysauce and sesame oil) in my toaster oven. I put the onigiri on a piece of aluminum foil, then turn it over to toast the 2nd side when the 1st side is toasted.
I'm a busy medical student and new-ish diabetic who has recently realized she's going to be packing lunches for the next 50 years and had better get out of the cheese sandwhich/hummus/PB sandwhich rut now before she gets heartily sick of all of those. My one prior attempt at rice for lunch was merely leftover refrigerated rice with rice vinegar, and then nori, tofu bites and veggies on the side, trying to delude myself it was a vegetarian sushi salad. The result was pitiful.
Inspired by your instructions, I made rice with dinner last night, formed some of it into my very first onigiri, and shoved them into the refrigerator along with the rest of my lunch fixings. (I've never had onigiri before, let alone made them, although I have made vegetarian sushi of dubious authenticity.) Today I microwaved them before sticking them back into the lunchbox and heading out. They were wonderful! I had them with an omelet today and I can envision them with tofu in the future. Thank you for adding lusious new options to my lunch rota!