Onigiri--Squirrel's Favorite Oyatsu

Today is Hinamatsuri (???) in Japan, the Japanese Doll Festival , or Girls' Day, held every year on March 3, the third day of the third month. I love this holiday because it is a day when families pray for and celebrate the happiness and prosperity of their girls. Being the mom of two little girls of my own, this holiday seems to have captured an even bigger place in my heart this year!
In honor of my girls, I'd like to share Squirrel's favorite oyatsu with you. An "oyatsu" is what snacks or light meals are called in Japan. Squirrel's favorite afternoon oyatsu to keep her fueled and on the move is an onigiri--an easy to make Japanese rice ball.
One of the things I love about onigiri is that there are countless combinations that you can come up with when making them. Whenever I make Japanese-style rice (a medium grain rice) for anything I always make extra so that I can make some onigiri for Squirrel the next day.
These are dead easy and quick to make!


Squirrel's Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls)
Makes 4-8 rice balls (depending on the size you make them)

about 4 cups warm cooked short/medium grain rice
salt
2 sheets dried nori seaweed, or pretoasted nori sheets

Filling:
1 can white albacore tuna, drained
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
a little lite soy sauce (or Ponzu)

1. Toast the nori sheets over a high gas flame, and cut crosswise into 1 or 2-inch wide strips, or use pretoasted nori.

2. Make the filling: Place tuna in a bowl. Mix in the mayonnaise and light soy sauce to taste.

3. To form the rice balls, follow the steps in this fabulous tutorial provided by Just Hungry.

* Sometimes I sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the onigiri.


See, I told you--easy peasy Japanesey!

More about Onigiri and Hinamatsuri:
-This video is a song about making onigiri, and about different places you can go to enjoy your onigiri. It comes from a popular children's television show that airs on NHK, Japan's state-run television station (like PBS or BBC). This song is called ???????("onigiri pon!") and it makes me smile every time I watch it!


-For more info on Japanese rice, see this article from JustHungry.

-This post on Our Adventures in Japan has some great information about the meaning of the word onigiri, about different onigiri shapes, etc.

-We've talked about onigiri before here on LFM.

-To read more about Hinamatsuri, click here.

-To read about our Hinamatsuri last year, read these posts.

-Kawaii Crafter has posted 2 wonderful Hinamatsuri crafts on her blog, Zakka Life:
Origami EmpressHina Doll Set (I have got to make some of these for the Fujiettes!)

Wishing you and your girls happiness and prosperity!