Convenience Store Onigiri... Victory At Last!

In Japan you can walk into any konbini (convenience store) and fine yummy, fresh tasting onigiri. You can find these rice balls with salmon and umeboshi (sour plum) fillings everywhere, and usually some random kinds as well, maybe regional, maybe special of the day - I've gotten Korean cabbage onigiri, little necked clam onigiri, shrimp in some sort of tomato sauce onigiri... you get the idea.

That's something I miss here in the states, especially lately. I've been craving onigiri like crazy, see, and because of my on-campus job I have a pretty hefty stipend to spend at the convenience stores on campus. There are two of them, in case you're wondering - the big one is further away and has a pretty good selection of random stuff, while the one near where I live has just the 'bare necessities' like shampoo, tissues, and bottled water, as well as a few convenience food items.

There is cereal, ez-mac, microwaveable soup, a bit of ramen, chips, lots of candy, and, for some reason, a pretty good selection of microwaveable rice, including Annie Chun's Sushi Wraps. Now, all of these items are overpriced normally and even more so at this market, but money is no object! An exaggeration, yes, but true in spirit. The microwaveable sticky white rice in these Sushi kits always comes out sticky, with a surprisingly good consistency. And, they come with a little seaweed packet too. Calling these sushi kits is a joke, but they actually don't work bad for quick onigiri.

But plain onigiri, or even onigiri with lemon, which I like, get old after a while. I started cruising for fillings I could find at the convenience store. I read that canned tuna, mixed with teriyaki sauce and salt, was pretty good, so I bought one of their 'tuna kits'. (they're big on kits, I guess - I only wanted the tuna packet, but don't worry, I used the crackers with some soup later.) I mixed the fish up with the teriyaki sauce pretty well, but I didn't like the end result. It tasted too much like... well, canned tuna.

Today I went to the convenience store again and found little egg and sausage bowls to be microwaved. I decided to give these a try... and I found that about a teaspoon of egg and one of the little bitty chunks of sausage works pretty darn good for a nontraditional filling! It's probably greasy enough that it would be gross if you took it on a picnic, but who knows? Anyway, it was quite yummy to eat fresh in my dorm room.

Convenience Store Onigiri
(That Aren't Shaped Like Proper Onigiri, but Could Be!)
w/ Sausage and Egg

Step One: Go to the convenience store and buy "Annie Chun's Sushi Wraps" and "Microwave Egg and Sausage Bowl"

Step Two: Microwave the rice by following package instructions. Then microwave the egg and sausage bowl.

Step Three: Sprinkle a tiny bit of water and salt on a big, sturdy plastic bag. Spoon some rice onto the plastic bag as shown:

Step Four: Add a little bit of topping... remember that you're going to have to roll this up, so don't put too much. These two little chunks of sausage were pushing it - normally I just put one.

Step Five: Wrap the rice around the filling, first by sort of doubling the plastic bag over horizontally, then by just squeezing and forming a good, solid shape. Don't let the filling come out by applying too much pressure in one direction. You want the shape to be very three dimensional because of this.

I realize that my shape is totally not right for Onigiri. Also, my method is sort of a gaijin (foreigner), amateur method. I'm really not very concerned - the taste is the same really and this is the fastest and least painful method I've discovered.

Step Six: Unwrap the rice ball from the bag. It should hold together well and be a dense and solid bit of yumminess.

Step Seven: Right before eating, (otherwise the seaweed gets soggy :( ), you can take some seaweed and wrap around the rice ball or cylinder or triangle or whatever shape you have. With shorter, rounder shapes, the seaweed tends to go o the bottom almost just as a place to put your fingers. But, it's tasty too. :D Alternatively with larger pieces of seaweed you can wrap up most of the ball if you want.

Of course, you can substitute any of the convenience store ingredients with better ingredients from a real store if you can/want. You will probably save money, though surprisingly this doesn't taste bad. I usually use my own rice, and seaweed if I can get it, but I have to admit that it's convenient not to cook the sausage myself... :P The main point of using all convenience store food was to see if I could do it.