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Onigiri (御握り; おにぎり?), also known as Omusubi (御結び; おむすび?), is a snack of Japanese rice formed into triangle or oval shapes and often wrapped in nori (edible seaweed). Traditionally, the onigiri is filled with pickled ume fruit (umeboshi), salted salmon, katsuobushi, or any other salty or sour ingredient. In practice, pickled filling is used for preservation of the rice. Since the onigiri is one of the most famed and popular snacks in Japan, most convenience stores in Japan stock onigiri in many popular fillings and tastes. There are even specialized shops offering only handmade rice balls for take out.
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History
The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, the diary of the Lady Murasaki, writes of people eating rice balls during her time, the eleventh century. The rice ball was called tojiki and often consumed as an outdoor picnic lunch.1 Other writings dating back as far as the seventeenth century state that many samurai stored rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves as a quick lunchtime meal at war, but the origins of onigiri are much earlier. Before the use of chopsticks became widespread in the Nara period, rice was often rolled into a small ball so that it could be easily picked up. In the Heian period, rice was also made into small rectangular shapes called tonjiki (頓食; とんじき?), so that they could be piled onto a plate and easily eaten.
From the Kamakura period to the early Edo period, onigiri was used as a quick meal. This made sense as cooks simply had to think about making enough onigiri and did not have to concern themselves with serving. These onigiri were simply a ball of rice flavored with salt. Nori did not become widely available until the Genroku era during the mid-Edo period, when the farming of nori and fashioning it into sheets became widespread.
It was believed that onigiri could not be produced with a machine as the hand rolling technique was considered too difficult to replicatewho?. In the 1980s, a machine that made triangular onigiri was built. This was initially met with skepticism because rather than having the filling traditionally rolled inside, the flavoring was simply put into a hole in onigiri and this shortcut was hidden by the nori. Since the onigiri made by this machine came with nori already applied to the rice ball, over time the nori became unpleasantly moist and sticky, clinging to the rice. A packaging improvement allowed the nori to be stored separately from the rice. Before eating, the diner could open the packet of nori and wrap the onigiri. The machines' limitation that an ingredient was filled into a hole instead of rolled together with the rice actually made new flavors of onigiri easier to produce as this cooking process did not require changes from ingredient to ingredient.
Overview
Onigiri is not a form of sushi, despite common misconception. While onigiri is made with plain rice (perhaps lightly salted), sushi is made of rice with vinegar added. Onigiri is merely a method of making rice portable and easy to eat, while sushi originated as a way of preserving freshwater fish.
Onigiri are also found in many convenience stores in Taiwan and South Korea. In the latter, it is called samgak gimbap (삼각김밥) because of its triangular shape.2
Fillings
- Fish
- Katsuobushi (also called okaka)
- Chum salmon
- Tuna
- Seafood
- Pickles
- Seasoning
Spam is used in Hawaii, where this dish is known as Spam musubi.
See also
References
- ^ A taste of Japan, Donald Richie, Kodansha, 2001, ISBN 4770017073
- ^ "Japanese food" (in Korean). Dusan Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2008-02-21. "오니기리(お握り)는 우리나라의 주먹밥과 매우 비슷하다. 밥에 소금으로 간을 하고, 그것에 다양한 재료를 섞어 넣고 삼각형으로 뭉친 것이다. 그것을 김으로 둘러서 먹는데, 한국에는 삼각김밥이라는 이름으로 들어와 있다."
- ^ "Press release". Circle K (2007-03-17). Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
External links
- The selection of 100 characteristic Onigiris in Japan (Japanese)
- How to make onigiris for the bento box
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 18 November 2008, at 15:06.
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