My mother prepared my lunchbox every day for 6 years! My favourite fi lling was meatball and it always made my lunchbox look very special. For this onigiri, I added some cabbage for a different texture. You can make a big batch of meatballs, and freeze them for the next special meatball onigiri day!
Ingredients
- 14 1⁄3 oz (400 g) Cooked Japanese short grain rice
- 0.12 head Cabbage shredded
- 1 tsp Salt
- 4 Nori seaweed sheets
Meatballs
- ½ medium Onion, peeled
- 0.66 oz (20 g) Carrot peeled
- 6 Rosemary leaves (optional)
- 5 1⁄3 oz (150 g) Minced meat (pork and beef half and half)
- ½ medium egg
- 1 tsp Breadcrumbs
- a pinch salt
- a pinch Ground white pepper
- 1 tsp Milk
- 1 tsp Potato starch
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
Sauce
- 1 2⁄3 fl oz (50 ml) Water
- 1 2⁄3 fl oz (50 ml) Red wine Red wine
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Tomato ketchup
- 1 tbsp Rice vinegar
- 1 tsp Japanese soy sauce (shoyu)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
How to Make It
- Prepare meatballs. Put onion, carrot, rosemary, minced meat, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and milk in a food processor and blend to combine. If not using food processor, chop onion, carrot and rosemary very fi ne and add to meat, breadcrumbs, milk, salt, pepper and egg in a bowl. Mix well with your hands until mixture becomes sticky.
- Shape mixture into balls measuring about 2-cm (1-in) in diameter. Sprinkle potato starch over meatballs.
- Heat the oil in a pan and cook meatballs. Set aside.
- To make sauce, combine water, red wine, sugar, tomato ketchup, rice vinegar, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce in a small pot and cook over medium heat.
- When mixture starts to boil, lower the heat. Cook until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.
- Coat meatballs with sauce and set aside.
- To make onigiri, scoop one-quarter of rice into a rice bowl. Make a 2-cm (1-in) indentation in the rice with your fi nger and add some cabbage and 1 meatball.
- Wet your hands and spread a pinch of salt on your palms and fingers. Transfer the rice to your hands and gently press rice 2–3 times into a ball. Make sure the fi lling is completely covered with rice. Wrap nori around rice ball as desired. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
