We see them everywhere, onigiris are rice balls or triangles that have become popular in recent years. Its fillings of various ingredients make us salivate craving.
What are onigiris?
Onigiris are native to Japan, they are rice balls cooked with an ingredient inside and in the center of the rice ball.
This dish today is a food that can be found very easily in Japan, you place them in the konbini, which are “convenience” stores that are located on every corner of the street.
In Mexico, it would be like going out and looking for a chubby to make eating on the way.
These rice balls can be filled with salmon, tarako (fish roe), mentaiko (spiced fish roe), tuna with mayonnaise, konbu (seaweed), umeboshi (dried plum), katsuo (dried slices of beautiful fish), yakiniku (roast meat) or natto (Japanese bean) and all the flavors you can imagine.
The sages say that adding the ingredient in the center is like a representation of the heart of Japan in an onigiri.
The history of the onigiris
The origin of this saucer is actually very brief, but scientists obtained the first record of the onigiri dating from the Yayoi era (300 BC.C., to 300 AD.C.).
In Ishikawa Prefecture, it is where archaeological remains of a cluster of charred rice that still had the trace of the fingers that compressed the ball are found.
Other theories say that the onigiris were born in the Heian period (794 years to 1185 AD.C.) with the Tonkin, a Vietnamese population that used glutinous rice and the balls were much more oval.
Later in the Edo period, Genroku (1688-1704) these bites of rice became much more popular and the entire population began to consume them, becoming part of the traditions of Japanese food.
The onigiri was found embodied in the leaves of the books, or in the engravings such as that of Hiroshige Ando, a painter of the time, in his work “53 stations of Tokaido”, where you can see two Japanese enjoying this dish.
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There are also references to the fact that in World War II soldiers were given bento, which is a type of box to take with several dishes, among these dishes that soldiers consumed were these rice balls with filling that were very useful for the practicality with which they could be consumed.
It was not until the ’80s that triangular machines were invented, to begin with, the mass production of onigiris, which were later also covered with nori seaweed, this alga has an individual packaging that is barely noticeable in the onigiri, this is because if it is placed glued with the rice ball, it gets wet and becomes less appetizing.
Today we find them in different colors (painting the rice), of different flavors, and even in different ways.
Have you tried them yet?
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