Description
These Chia Seed Onigiri are Japanese filled rice balls packed with the nutritional power of chia seeds!
Ingredients
Scale
For Basic Sushi Rice
- 1 cup uncooked sticky rice (sometimes called sushi rice or glutenous rice – found in the asian foods section)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For Onigiri
- 3 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2–3 sheets of nori for sushi (roasted seaweed sheets usually found in the asian foods section)
- 1 cup of your favorite filling (I used canned tuna mixed with a bit of mayo) (optional)
Instructions
- Place uncooked rice, water, rice vinegar, salt and 1Tbsp sugar in your rice cooker and stir. Turn on the rice cooker, wait for it to finish the cooking cycle (20-30 min).
- Mix the chia seeds into the hot cooked rice, then let rice stand with the lid open for an additional 5-10 minutes so it cools enough to handle.
- There’s many ways to form rice balls. The simplest way is to press some rice into a small rounded bowl or round biscuit cutter, add a tablespoon of filling, then top with more rice and press it together in the bowl/mold with your hands or the bottom of a cup. (See photos above.) Remove from bowl/mold and shape it a bit more to get the rounded or triangular shape.
- You can also spread some rice out into your hand, press filling into the center, fold the rice around the filling, and shape it into a ball or triangle with your hands.
- Once it has been formed, wrap it with a strip of nori and serve.
- If storing for later, wrap the rice ball closely in plastic wrap and keep the nori and rice ball separate until ready to eat to avoid soggy seaweed.
- This recipe will make approximately 6 onigiri, but your sizes may vary depending on how you mold them.
- Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Yes, this is not a traditional onigiri recipe because I’m using sushi rice and mixing in chia seeds. I like going against the grain (of rice) sometimes. 😉
- This recipe assumes you have a rice cooker. For stovetop directions, I prefer to use Alton Brown’s recipe here, cut in half.
- Feel free to sub in your favorite filling ideas or even use brown rice.
- Gluten-free: This is gluten-free.
- Vegetarian/vegan: choose a vegetarian-friendly filling or skip the filling all together and make rice balls.