Onigirazu

Onigirazu is a Japanese dish that consists of rice, nori seaweed sheets, tonkatsu, teriyaki chicken or pork, and green salad leaves. It can be made using an onigirazu mold to give the perfect shape every time! This recipe will teach you how to make onigirazu from scratch with easy-to-find ingredients. It is hard not to love an onigirazu rice sandwich with fried pork and sweet teriyaki glaze drizzled over!

Do you love sandwiches? Have you ever tried onigirazu? If you haven’t, you are seriously missing out!

Onigirazu is the best thing that has happened to rice since sushi (okay, maybe not that big of an exaggeration).

These Japanese sandwiches are delicious and easy to make at home. They use ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen or leftovers in your fridge.

Onigirazu is very similar to onigiri but we sandwich other ingredients between the rice, (Note: not sushi rice. Some people have confused sushi rice and just using ordinary plain cooked rice however this recipe uses plain cooked rice). Because this recipe uses ordinary plain cooked rice it is a great way to use up leftover cooked rice and other leftovers since anything goes with this Japanese recipe.

What Is Onigirazu?

Onigirazu is a type of Japanese rice ball “Onigiri“. Nigiri or Nigiru is the action of shaping rice into a shape usually a triangle or round ball with your hands. Nigirazu is the opposite, instead of being shaped into a triangle or round shape, it’s rectangular, like a sandwich.

Nigirazu is usually wrapped on the outside with a sheet of nori seaweed, then filled with rice and a variety of different fillings of protein and veggies.

Why You Will Love This Onigirazu Recipe

Onigirazu is a perfect Japanese lunch idea! They are so filling, delicious, and customizable as you can put whatever you like in them. You can fill them with leftover chicken or some other meat or you can make them vegetarian filling them with vegetables and egg or tofu.

They’re similar to sushi and some call it a sushi sandwich but are so much easier to make than sushi as you don’t have to make sushi rice just use plain cooked rice. They’re like a little mini rice sandwich, which is perfect to eat for lunch on the go or cut up with a sharp knife for snacks!

Ingredients Needed To Make Japanese Onigirazu

All the ingredient amounts are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. But first, I want to share a little bit more information about what I used to make my onigirazu rice sandwiches!

Seaweed Wrap

For the outer layer, you need nori seaweed sheets. You don’t have to tear them- they are the perfect size straight out of the box.

Sticky Rice

Next, a cup of cooked rice. Use your favorite recipe to cook the rice. This sticky rice will give you the best results. I use a Japonica short-grain rice called “Koshihikari” which is are available from Japanese/Asian grocery stores or supermarkets in Australia.  

The Fillings

Fill it with whatever you want! I included some filling ideas in the FAQs later on in this post. For this recipe, I filled the onigirazu with teriyaki chicken and tonkatsu.Fill it with whatever you want! I included some filling ideas in the FAQs later on in this post. For this recipe, I filled the onigirazu with teriyaki chicken.

How To Make Onigirazu

If you can make a sandwich, you can make onigirazu. All you do is layer the ingredients on the nori. Then, wrap it up and let it set before you eat it. Letting it set will help it all stick together so it doesn’t fall apart.

That’s it!

Place cling wrap on a chopping board or a clean working surface diagonally.

Place 1 nori sheet over the cling wrap diagonally (as photo in post indicates).

Put half of the rice on the center of the nori sheet.

Put salad leaves on top of the rice then the tonkatsu piece or teriyaki chicken.

Pour miso katsu sauce or tonkatsu sauce over and put another half of the rice on top.

Fold all 4 corners of nori sheet to the centre and wrap with the cling wrap.

Set aside for a few minutes and repeat the same process for the teriyaki chicken.

When the nori sheet has settled, cut the onigirazu in half and serve.

What To Serve With Onigirazu

This is a complete lunch all on its own, you really don’t need to serve anything with it. If you want to enjoy it with a soup and salad, then make a bowl of Japanese clear soup.

Salad will also be delicious with this rice wrap. My favorite salad is Asian cucumber salad. It’s very refreshing! 

Japanese kabocha squash salad is bursting with flavors too.

FAQ

What are some other onirigazu filling ideas?

I have made onigirazu before in a BLT style by filling them with bacon, lettuce, and egg (which is called Tamago in Japan, hence the ‘T’). But this time I decided to make them with teriyaki chicken and miso katsu, which is deep-fried pork with sweet miso sauce.

Miso Katsu was definitely my favorite filling! The pork is juicy and tender inside and is coated with crispy panko (bread) and it goes so well with the sweetness of the miso. It is the best filling to go with plain steamed rice!! Also, you can replace pork with chicken katsu, or Tofu katsu.

Usually, Tonkatsu is served with shredded cabbage but I did not have any in my fridge so used rocket and spinach, which still tasted really good. You can basically fill with anything you like or you have on hand.

Teriyaki chicken is another suggestion for a filling!

I have more step by step instructions in my first onigirazu post, but here are a few pictures to show you the basic way to make them:

How do you store onigirazu?

This tastes the best when you make it fresh. To store it, wrap it up tightly in plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator for no longer than one day. The longer it sets in the refrigerator, the more the texture will deteriorate.

Related Recipes

If you enjoyed this onigirazu recipe, here are some more lunch recipes you might want to try next. They are some of my favorites:

• Shoyu Ramen
• Yakisoba – Japanese Stir-Fried Noodles
• Japanese Rice Bowl With Pork
• Vegan Sushi Oshinko Roll
• Fruit Sandwich

If you liked my recipe for Onigirazu, please rate it and leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook , Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest happenings on Chopstick Chronicles.

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ChopstickChronicles so I can see your wonderful creations!

Tips for Making Sekihan

• When we cook ordinary rice in a rice cooker, we let the rice grain absorb some water before cooking it so that when the rice is cooked it is soft. However, do not leave glutinous rice in water if you are going to use a rice cooker or a pressure cooker, because the water absorption rate of glutinous rice is higher so there ends up being not enough water to cook it or if you add water to cook, it ends up soggy.
• Traditionally, the rice is cooked by steaming, when we did not have pressure cookers. If you are going to decide to cook this dish in the traditional way, you need to soak the rice in water for 6-8 hours and if the rice is old, it needs to be soaked for longer. Then drain the soaked liquid and steam cook the rice.
• It’s important to add the salt at the right time when cooking. Do not add the salt to the Azuki Beans. The salt makes the azuki beans firm and will not be cooked properly. The salt needs to be added when cooking the rice (after the beans have cooked).