They are *not* a pain the the ass to unwrap. I love that you can unwrap it without having to touch the rice at all, and your nori stays nice and crispy. It's honestly so symbolic of industrialized Japan in every way.
5:41 he didn’t explain the reason for the special packaging. The seaweed is packed separate from the rice and so it’s still crunchy when you open and eat it
Well it only works IF the outer isn't impeded with tape by dumb clerks.. those who don't know & put price labels & sticky sht over where you pull tab to easy opens it up.
It would've also been worth mentioning that onigiri comes from the verb nigiru (握る), meaning to "grasp"/"hold", because of the way you have to mold the rice into its usual triangle shape whereas onigirazu literally means "without grasping" because you don't mold the whole thing into a ball. That's why nigiri also refers to the flat-bed type of sushi (握り寿司) as opposed to the "maki" sushi roll (巻き寿司) where maki means "to roll up" 😄
I've been slightly obsessed with making onigirazu for breakfast (in the U.S.) the past couple months. I didn't realize it was such a recent evolution. Thanks for this video.
Me too! I’m starting clinical rotations at vet school soon so I started making onigiri last month as a way to help me actually get a lunch in me, oftentimes we are eating on the run and rice is so cheap and easy to make
I think _onigiri_ changed to the modern style for one reason: easier to make by machine. The older style _onigiri_ , which you can still get pretty easily in Japan, is hand-made and is fairly labor-intensive.
Labor-intensive is a gross exageration. The whole reason why it was easy to automate, was bc it was very simple, easy & low physical effort to make. Saffron or lotus silk is labor -intensive.
There is no food more sad than small rice balls made by machine. I introduce some of terriblly troublesome interfèrent stalkers. Keisuke Kubota (âge estimé 33 ans, homme, a abandonné l'Académie de Défense Nationale, un voleur qui a utilisé mon téléphone sans permission et a pris des photos privées il y a 12 ans, infecté par le sida, un harceleur depuis au moins 2020, Interpro Co., Ltd. @ Miyazaki, employé en 2011, qui a causé des problèmes en essayant de stigmatiser ma famille et moi), Kimura (ancien résident de la ville de Kiyotake, ville de Miyazaki, homme, actuellement âgé de 43 ans, ami de Keisuke Kubota, l'homme qui est venu me traquer de chez moi à Tokyo jusqu'en France Il est même devenu un harceleur interne), Rena Nagasawa (femme, grande et à la peau claire, diplômée d'une université d'art, actuellement estimée à 34 ans, employée de Tanaka Printing Co., Ltd. @ Kiyosumi Shirakawa ou Monzen-Nakacho en 2016, au moins depuis 2021 dans mon esprit Harceleur, intimidation, vol, il a été infecté par le sida de son propre chef et il prévoyait de m'infecter aussi, en 2021, il s'est introduit par effraction dans la clinique Tabata Kitaguchi mal gérée et a volé des seringues usagées, un harceleur dans son esprit. avec enthousiasme. En 2021, j'ai reçu plusieurs menaces en direct de personnes qui ont essayé d'obtenir mon certificat de santé sans virus du sida en se faisant passer pour moi et en se rendant dans divers hôpitaux pour l'obtenir. Un voleur de compétences installé de mémoire a réussi grâce à l'usurpation d'identité et a gagné beaucoup d'argent , convoitait mes affaires, fouillait dans mes vêtements préférés et menaçait de les voler, et prenait mes vêtements de deuil à chez moi. On disait qu'il s'était introduit par effraction dans la chambre du nous et les avait volés vers le mois de mai 2021, mais il a en fait disparu soudainement. Il a également fait des rumeurs selon lesquelles il avait obtenu un passeport chinois à mon nom. Obsession de l'apparence, obsession de créer des vidéos modifiées et de créer des souvenirs fictifs sinistres, incident d'infection par injection sanguine du VIH, incident d'ablation des trompes de Fallope, organe sexuel incident de blessure par déformation, IRM, IRM, CT, (rayons X et autres crimes), Sakurako Ohara (actrice), Honaikoka (batteur) et membres de LUNASEA.
Onigiri can be gluten free, but it typically isn’t when gotten from Japanese convenience stores. The gluten comes from the soy sauce used in the filling which is typically “cut” or bulked up with wheat.
As @Toastybees said, wheat is a normal ingredient important in the making of soy sauce. Professor Ryoichi Iiono cites the 6th century C.E. document, the Qi Min Yao Shu's instructions for making the predecessor sauce for soy sauce "The Seimin-yojutsu [Qi Min Yao Shu in Japanese) details a recipe for soybean sho that has been summarized as follows: Mix steamed black soybeans with white salt, kona koji (powdered wheat kneaded with water and formed into a dough...." Citation: www.kikkoman.com/jp/kiifc/foodculture/pdf_01/e_012_015.pdf Tamari is a gluten-free soy sauce typically fermented without grains and is a great alternative for those who need it. Cook's Illustrated did a taste test of soy sauces and found that there was a trend in which tamari lacked balance, taste, and sweetness that soy sauce fermented with wheat has. Citation: ruclips.net/video/X0QVxuFwvxY/видео.htmlsi=zUxmkWVEQ2mUgFvy&t=246
japanese soy sauce is made with both wheat and soy beans which means it naturally contains gluten, contrary to tamari sauce which is only soy beans or for example a korean soy sauce which also doesnt use wheat. wheat is an integral part of japanese soy sauce.
Is it the Gluten or the Glyphosate that’s destroying peoples guts? My guess, it’s the Glyphosate, since Japan has the lowest usage rate of it in the developed countries.
Makes sense that there's bargain bin sandwiches that you take at the local convinience store, but also gones that are a genuine meal. No reason onigiri can't be the same.
Born in Japan, Raised in Hawaiʻi since age 7. The onigiraza reminds me very much of Hawaiʻi`s very popular Spam-Musubi which has evolved into teri-chicken musubi, tamago musubi, hot-dog musubi etc. The original shape of the Spam musubi was dictated due to the shaped of the Spam slice between the two rice layers, and wrapped in nori. Thought Japanese in origin, it has become a very Hawaiʻi thing. If youʻree ever in Hawaiʻi you should try it. Hawaiʻi 7-11 stores always carry a nice variety.
This video makes me feel better about how I fill my onigiri at home in the US as an old white lady, lol Of course, tuna mayo is a given, but my hubby is not into fish or strong tasting fish/ingredients I've put a slice of ham and cheese and scrambled egg for him. Or bacon and egg My other favorite is opening a tin of smoked kippers or smoked herring/mackerel and mashing it a bit for the middle. Smoky oily fish really goes well in the salty rice. Sometimes nice ripe kimchee goes right in the middle, too! I don't always have big sheets of nori so I tend to pack them naked and bring a few packages of korean gim snacks to wrap them in so it's still crispy. The trader joes teriyaki flavor is really good on the outside. Left over teriyaki salmon or chicken also goes well in there. I never claim its authentic lol But my half Japanese brother in law absolutely loves the smoked kipper ones. If we go out fishing for the day, I've been asked to bring double if he's going lol. But he brings the beer 🍺 😂 and edamame beans. Oh and occasionally a huge bag of deep fried salmon skin. Better than corn chips 😅
Your comments make me so happy! Bacon or ham and egg onigiri sounds delicious, and I love to try the those kipper and herring/mackerel ones. As a Japanese, my favorites are rather traditional (ume-boshi, konbu, okaka, Tsukuda-ni, salmon, and plain with salt), but there are so many kinds of onigiri we can choose out there. There are no limits for filling, mixed-in, topping, or wrap with. (Oh, the salmon skin (my case is the grilled one) was one of my father's favorites!)
Onigiri is food for the people. There's no such thing as an "improper" onigiri. Fill it with whatever your heart desires! Your onigiri honestly sound very delicious!
It is maybe more Korean, but my Filipino friend got me into fried Spam inside mine. I thought I hated Spam until he made me try it sliced and fried. It's just like a sandwich, so whatever you want will work.
Thank you for the video. Here onigiri is usually served in japanese restaurant as a starter for ramen, getting a window to the history and concept behind the food is actually much appreciated.
Honestly, I love these and thought it was more convenient than even a sandwich. I could buy a fifty-pound bag of rice that would never go stale and cost about 20% of what I would pay for even poor-quality bread so that is what I did. Plus a bad of rice that massive was only really sold at an Asian grocery I knew and so I got to pick up stuff not found in a typical grocery.
@@squidward5110 but I also want eggs, milk, and oil for really good bread, not too mention butter. Then all the added active cooking time. Plus I just don’t want to make bread for four plus people every day. I can make a pot of rice for twenty people every day with basically no effort. Bread? Not so much.
@@squidward5110 nah it keeps for like a week. Also the staple food for the most part is like wonder bread. Real bakery loaves have always had levels of expense and been a luxury throughout history. Bleach white flour is a product of the industrial revolution not the old world, back then fine flour was for royalty
Interestingly, Filipinos STILL prepare and eat sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. That’s usually in the form of “suman” and it can be bought in snack outlets in many parts of the country.
"Suman" is wrapped in banana leaves and steamed "bamboo is a grass and does not contain broad leaves". The Japanese use bamboo shaving from the wood portion of the grass.
@@Viktor-jm9tg I stand corrected. It’s not bamboo leaves! Evidently it’s wrapped in palm or buri leaves. Suman is wrapped and made in a variety of forms. :)
A natto rice ball and a can of Boss Black coffee was my usual breakfast in Japan, and easily powered me through the day up to lunchtime or even late afternoon. The hand-made onigiri you tried out look amazing, but also, I couldn't get over their size. They're huge! I get that there's a generous amount of filling, but it looks like there's also a donburi order's worth of rice there.
If you think of the term, Onigiri 御握り literally means "Honorable handful". "razu" らず turns it into a negative term. So Onigirazu means "Honorable (not) a handful" which would mean an Onigiri that is bigger than a handful, implying more value for money. As well as being a hip and trendy term of course.
O is just an honorific as in ohashi obento ojyousama. Nigiri means shaped by hand. Onigirazu means “not shaped by hand” since each half is pressed in a form.
Onigiri comes from the verb, "nigiru" which in this case means to mold or to form. Same origin as nigiri sushi. Onigirazu is a "pun" where the verb is conjugated to a negation, meaning "to not mold/form". So if onigiri can be seen as "formed rice", onigirazu is "non-formed rice" which I thought was pretty clever.
My favourite kind of rice doughnuts are the ones that have a little bit of seaweed as a glaze and sour plum salty jelly filling. Canned fish jelly is alright too. Furikake sprinkles always liven up a doughnut!
I remember seeing this as a kid while watching the dub of the first Pokémon season and thinking that Japanese doughnuts were super weird but I still wanted to taste them.
I don't know, why it never occurred to me, but after your description of the original Ton-jiki, I realized, this is basically Zong (粽), or Zòngzǐ, which is sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaf, often with various fillings, and guess what, the most familiar shape is the triangle 🍙
Here in Hawaii we also have the Cantonese joong, found in dim-sum estabshments. They are filled with sticky mochi rice steamed with various fillings and spices wrapped in ti leaf, I think. They are actually more pyramid shaped, and the size/volume is more like that of three onigiri. So ono!😋😍
Well, a region/historical name for onigiri is omusubi. Hawaii had a huge Japanese influence. During WWII, there were fear that ethnic Japanese were spying and meeting the military to transport intel. So the USA barred all fishing on Hawaii. With fish no longer being available, an alternative needed to be found. American military bases had surpluses of Spam and soldiers got tired of it, so became quickly available to the public (note places like South Korea and the Philippines on the popularity of spam coinciding with American military bases). Spam musubi was born. No mistake on how it looks like a giant piece of nigiri sushi.
Hard to tell if Spam Musubi made it to Japan in Post-War Period or via Japanese tourists coming much later to Hawaii. I personally think the timeline and the onigiri sando evolution are more born from the Hawaii timeline.
@@davideriksen9086 the spam musubi requires military bases with a surplus of spam. As the main resupply point in the pacific, Hawaii was overloaded with the spam. You see spam popularity In similar places like South Korea or the Philippines Okinawa was the main military base in japan and incidentally the focal point of the onigiri sando, but it not as closely related as you think. Musubi was a product of Japanese utilizing what they had available. The onigiri sando is a convergent evolution of separate factors. US soldier infamously take rations to locals to cook, just for the sake of diversity. Korean Military stew is legendary in that respect. Locals will also change local cuisine to attract US servicemen. Nachos have that history. You can see how a culture without bread might improvise a sandwich in that way. That being said their difference is that musubi was made by locals for locals whereas the sando was made by locals for Americans.
I remember the first few times I tried to unwrap convenience store onigiri and failing miserably 😅 Another fascinating video! I would never have guessed that onigiri had such a long history.
The only problem is, the label sometimes keeps the #1 strip from tearing properly. It's pretty genius how they wrap them so the nori doesn't get soggy.
once I started using short grain rice and learned the proper technique, I couldn’t stop making onigiri! Tuna mayo is the best, I like making it spicy with this tabasco sriracha I’ve been loving 😋
Tyvm. I am going to make some tomorrow. Get my grand children to try them. Then we can make them together. The history is wonderful to watch whilst they eat and learn.😊❤
ppl often dont think about that onigiri is related to how rice in japan holds a similar place in food as bread does in europe / many other places. the onigiri is equivalent to a sandwich. the cheap-ish base staple (rice or bread) with other staple fillings (in japan more seafood, ie tuna onigiri, elsewhere more dairy and meat, ie ham and cheese sandwich) and, if you can afford it, some fancier fillings to make it tastier. then both the sandwich and onigiri are easy to bring when travelling or eating on the go - rice is wrapped by nori and the fillings wrapped in rice, the sandwich bread wrapping the fillings inside. a fancy onigiri or fancy sandwich, a cheap onigiri or a cheap sandwich, its all the same.
Onigiri with Ume boshi is my go to, I love it! My Okinawan mother used to make Onigiri with miso paste inside too, but she always made them in round balls as oposed to the triangle shapes you see sold all over Japan.
This was an excellent video. Nice job researching the history and presenting a well rounded picture of this classic. Another reason why onigiri are moving towards onigirazu is the high protein trend currently sweeping Japan, the form factor allows for more protein (like a whole slab of chicken teriyaki) to be stuffed inside.
As a carribean that just started making onigiri, i didn't know there were soo many different kinds. I will definately be trying more, my family love them.
4:00 The U.S. did not "ask" Japan to be open. They went there with warships and forced Japan to open its ports. It was American imperialism at its finest.
00:00 🍙 Onigiri, or rice balls, have been a staple in Japan for over 2000 years, reflecting deep historical and cultural significance. 01:53 🥡 Onigiri is commonly used as convenient food for travel, but historically it was a ceremonial gift and later became military rations. 03:46 🏛️ The form and presentation of onigiri evolved over centuries, from ritualistic bamboo-wrapped versions to modern convenience store varieties. 04:59 🏪 Onigiri became widely available in convenience stores, reflecting Japan’s industrialization and modernization. 06:23 🍣 Traditional onigiri restaurants, like Onigiri Bongo in Tokyo, offer a more artisanal experience compared to mass-produced versions. 08:04 🌟 Onigirazu, a new trend, is a larger, more complex version of onigiri, often called a "rice sandwich," aiming to make onigiri trendy and flavorful again. 11:02 ❤ Onigiri has adapted over time to meet various needs, from gifts to school lunches to on-the-go meals, demonstrating its enduring versatility and cultural importance.
I can assure you home-made onigiri is tastier. Even the simplest salted onigiri. That is because love was put into it! Mom and grandma's cooking is the best in the world after all. Nothing beats it!
When I was stationed in Japan, breakfast was Miso soup, lunch was 2 or 3 Onigiri (my favourite stand, the lady made the most AMAZING Rafuke Onigiri that I still dream about... she also made bacon & scrambled egg ones that... again, I still dream about & have never been able to recreate). Now that I have a tonne of Korean in-laws, we eat Samgak Kimbap (it's Onigiri) and Kimbap (sooooo close to Onigiri in versatility) several times a week. LOVE it. Tuna/Mayo, Umbeboshi, Curry beef, Lox/Avocado... Dang, hope the rice cooker isn't empty right now!!!!
Onigarazu actually got its start from a very long-running cooking manga called Cooking Papa. The story goes that the mangaka's wife was in a hurry one day and adapted onigiri to be more akin to a rice sandiwch for ease of creation. So he adapted the instructions to show off in the manga. It's very popular in Hawaii for potlucks.
I love onigiri!!! I wish it were all over the place in Seattle, USA. I could eat it every day. Thanks for the GREAT video! I loved all the history. Makes me love onigiri even more.
Me too. At least we can get them at Uwajimaya. I really love them with tuna mayo or salmon, they also make a musubi that is chicken asado or adobo or something, that I like a lot.
Reminds me of the Sushirrito sushi burrito craze in America a few years ago. Hopefully if these new trendy Onigiri become trendy we'll get to see it here too.
@@DanielDeadweightNot here we don’t have any Japanese food here. To be honest we don’t have any authentic Japanese, Chinese, or Korean food here. I live in a small county and we don’t get anywhere new here ever. It took until like 2017 until we even got our first and only Chick-Fil-A.
are you sure about that? lol plus on top of that, the onigiri available in the US is typically mediocre at best too, even from any Japanese supermarkets >< Trust me you must live in an area where there are actually a higher population of Japanese, because if you don't live in such an area there is 0-5% chance you have any onigiri....lol The only chance you have onigiri is depending on the amount of Nihonjin that live in your area, or maybe unless you got super lucky someone opened a shop. I'm from Green Bay, Wisconsin and Chicago has a quite large Japanese population and even there outside of the couple Japanese markets it is almost impossible to find onigiri outside of a few places that might have it on the menu...lol Sounds like you probably have a Mitsuwa or some other Japanese market nearby you or something....lol
We've got a bulgolgirrito joint near work. beef, spicy pork, chicken, seafood. huge portions and busy. Makes me happy. I'd love to see a western take on onigiri too. Like the Poke chains popping up.
Great content. Well, onigiri is beautiful in its simplicity and variability, the complexity also comes from the fact that the same bases: rice wrapped with a sheet of seaweed plus a filling also apply to its variations if we include Yaki-onigiri, Abura-Onigiri, Tenmusu, Korean gimbap and if we omit the seaweed wrapping there is Chinese zongzi, steamed rice in banana leaf, rice in lotus leaf and several others.
You mention onigiri bongo is one of the few remaining onigiri shops, but actually there are a TON of them (it's my favorite food). They are just famous.
When I was young a rice ball was just that...a ball of moist rice with ume in the middle, totally wrapped in nori. They don't even exist anymore, I think. I grew up with them. Likewise cone sushi and Hawaiian style maki sushi (makizushi) is disappearing. I note that the specialty restaurant had Hawaiian style poke fillings along with some more Japanese, and that the modern ones were basically variations of Spam or Hotdog Musubi first served as cheap snacks or lunch on Kauai. For many years, Japanese tourists were intrigued by the Hawaiianization of Japanese food, and are strong consumers when on vacation. It is sad for us to see the flavors we grew up with disappear.
This was really enjoyable, fun and informative - I don't however know if it's quite accurate to say that America 'asked' Japan to open up the country to outside trade; large warships are not generally employed when making a friendly request ;)
I love the naming convention - "onigiri" is a noun from the verb "nigiru" to grasp, and could mean "a handful", so the onigiri has the connotation of being eaten somewhere on the go, as a handheld food. But onigirazu is is the negative form of that verb, and so the connotation of eating on the go disappears.
This video is awesome the only thing that bugged me was that there was no video stabilization, most cameras now have this feature to help define the footage while on the move. The history and the food looked awesome! I think it would be a great idea to call out the restaurants you went to as well to help their Business. Thank you!
That Pokemon clip of Brock calling it a Donut for years after gave me the impression that rice balls were more of a sweet snack. I'd assume filling it with red bean paste might be a thing, but yeah the brainwashing is real.
Tuna and mayonnaise is pretty omnipresent here is the states. I went to a class at our local library to learn to make nigiri, and the one theey made was tuna and mayonnaise. I had actually thought at the time that they were just catering it to American tastes.
Great video. Really nice production and an interesting topic. I was really surprised when I saw the sub count. Keep up the good work! You made it onto my home page.
Thank you for the history lesson on the onigiri. It makes sense that originally, they were made of mochi rice and wrapped in a natural wrapping--hearkening back possibly to the Chinese joong. Also, a recent development I've noticed in the izakaya in honolulu are the grilled onigiri.😋 I think the history of the onigiri here in Hawaii is it's own thing. We are definitely the birthplace of spam musubi--which i don't really consider a riceball anymore!😅 Doomo arigatoo for the video. I personally shun the plastic molds used by many people--i like to shape my triangle musubi by hand. Also, in the Japanese community in honolulu in the late 20th century the word was to not make round musubi--since those were reserved as funeral food!🤔
When I went to Vegas a while back, there was this place that served sushi burritos, and I think that THAT is the ultimate rice ball "sandwich"! You got to eat everything you like just like with a poke bowl, but it was handheld and easier to take around! Looooooved it
Cool! I've only recently discovered onigiri here in the Boston area and since I've only found it at one Japanese grocery 15 minutes away, I've been learning to make it! Can't wait to get to Japan and try those onigiri specialty shops. Bonus points because I'm trying to get away from wheat (esp. gluten) and an onigiri sandwich sounds like a good solution!!
Tuna-Mayo Onigiri are soooo good, not boring at all. I make them myself and put a generous amount inside of the rice ball. Sometimes, I live dangerously and add a bit of onion. 😁
I like a bit of finely chopped dill pickle in my tuna mayo too. If you like eggs try a slice of hard boiled egg in with the tuna mayo onigiri. It's almost like having an egg salad and tuna mayo sandwich together, lol. Sorry I just like to eat and share lol. Not everyone in my family is as fascinated with food as I am lol.
When I was growing up, I used to make my own onigiri with canned tuna fish. When I moved to Japan (back in 2014), I was in onigiri heaven. I was happy to see spam musubi in the combinis recently. My grandmother used to make spam musubi with I was young. Every week it's my ritual to have salmon or tuna onigiri when I am gaming or after doing a workout.
As an American I would LOVE if someone did onigiri locally or even just the 7/11 version in our stores would be welcome. Kinda hard for a single person to make just a few onigiri. (they tend to not store well in a home fridge).
They started getting popular in upscale supermarkets in Germany at 3 times the price and 1/3 the quality, it's also impossible to open the packaging without tearing the seaweed and some of the rice apart I'll still get them sometimes in a bout of nostalgia...
I love how onigiri spread to a bunch of countries as well. It may be not the most authentic (we put a type of mayo tuna or chicken in there) but here in Germany, often it gets me trough the day I will have 1 or 2 either during lunch or in the evening instead, it's only 1.99€ per onigiri. But it saves me time cooking when I am too buisy or too tired to cook. They have them in almost every supermarket in the "to go" food isle alongside prepackaged coffees, milkshakes and boba tea now as well.
Onigiri is extremely easy to make using a plastic mold and kitchen scale. A common size is 100 grams of rice and filling. You must make the rice and put seasoned rice vinegar in it, then let it cool a bit until it's just a bit warm, put your mold on a bowl of salt water put about 40 grams rice in it, 20 grams filling and another 40 grams rice, then press and turn it over and slap the onigiri out and put the mold back in the salt water to prevent rice from sticking too much. You must cool the onigiri in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight so it holds its shape nicely. Use furikake seasoning of your choice to add other flavors.
In mitsuwa marketplace in Edgewater NJ. There is a hand made Onigiri shop in the supermarket. They make those handmade large round ball version. It's fabulous. I haven't been there for a while because all the prices in NYC has gone up. Your story reminds me of it.
The whole "food for the people" aspect is exactly what I love about "street food".
Not to be a naysayer on general street food, but I don't like how unhealthy street food usually is.
Luckily, onigiri seems like a nice exception
@@mike10240it's only unhealthy if you eat it regularly.
Doesn't matter where on this Earth you go, street food is always incredible
They are *not* a pain the the ass to unwrap. I love that you can unwrap it without having to touch the rice at all, and your nori stays nice and crispy. It's honestly so symbolic of industrialized Japan in every way.
Like Italians have 2k+ forms of pizza, Japanese ppl have 2k+ forms of rice + seaweed
or Germans with their 3200+ types of bread
Onigiri is just basically the equivalent of a sandwich in the West. Just something filling and easy to eat during the day.
2k+ forms of pizza, yet if an italian-american makes a neapolitan style pizza and calls it new york style it's not a valid pizza.
That’s cause the heathens put parmigiana on it . Joke🤣
I’m having an by argument about that on another video.
Italians have those amazing little sandwiches, tramazzini. Actually these new rice sandwiches and their fillings look VERY similar.
5:41 he didn’t explain the reason for the special packaging. The seaweed is packed separate from the rice and so it’s still crunchy when you open and eat it
Yeah i heard the crunch, and was confused.
Easy to unwrap, keeps the seaweed crispy
Great! Cause don't like nori
Well it only works IF the outer isn't impeded with tape by dumb clerks.. those who don't know & put price labels & sticky sht over where you pull tab to easy opens it up.
@@jillvasquez1010 I think you missed the point
Great video, just one side note: tuna with mayonnaise doesn't sound weird at all, it's one of the best combinations for canned tuna 😍
Right? A tuna salads main ingredients are canned tuna and mayo lol. And that’s eaten commonly throughout the world.
I make Mac salad with tuna and mayo
JAPANESE MAYO BTW, cuz American mayo is garbage
Tuna mayo jacket potato
@@baghabit7696 like a tuna melt with potato instead of bread
It would've also been worth mentioning that onigiri comes from the verb nigiru (握る), meaning to "grasp"/"hold", because of the way you have to mold the rice into its usual triangle shape whereas onigirazu literally means "without grasping" because you don't mold the whole thing into a ball.
That's why nigiri also refers to the flat-bed type of sushi (握り寿司) as opposed to the "maki" sushi roll (巻き寿司) where maki means "to roll up" 😄
This guy 日本goes
This is a dope comment. I always wondered what the meaning for onigiri and nigiri was. Thank you 🙏
Wow! Thank you. How interesting!
I've been slightly obsessed with making onigirazu for breakfast (in the U.S.) the past couple months. I didn't realize it was such a recent evolution. Thanks for this video.
Which rice brand do you like the best!!!
@@somefishhere I don't have a favorite. Right now I'm using Lundberg Organic California sushi rice.
@@somefishhere i use kokuho rose its a really nice firm fluffy medium grain white rice, you can get it at any asian grocery or whole foods
Me too! I’m starting clinical rotations at vet school soon so I started making onigiri last month as a way to help me actually get a lunch in me, oftentimes we are eating on the run and rice is so cheap and easy to make
@@somefishhere THANK you for asking this! I’ve been lost on what rice to use~!
I think _onigiri_ changed to the modern style for one reason: easier to make by machine. The older style _onigiri_ , which you can still get pretty easily in Japan, is hand-made and is fairly labor-intensive.
It’s the prepackaged sandwich from the nation that never really go into growing wheat.
You nailed it
Labor-intensive is a gross exageration. The whole reason why it was easy to automate, was bc it was very simple, easy & low physical effort to make. Saffron or lotus silk is labor -intensive.
There is no food more sad than small rice balls made by machine.
I introduce some of terriblly troublesome interfèrent stalkers.
Keisuke Kubota (âge estimé 33 ans, homme, a abandonné l'Académie de Défense Nationale, un voleur qui a utilisé mon téléphone sans permission et a pris des photos privées il y a 12 ans, infecté par le sida, un harceleur depuis au moins 2020, Interpro Co., Ltd. @ Miyazaki, employé en 2011, qui a causé des problèmes en essayant de stigmatiser ma famille et moi),
Kimura (ancien résident de la ville de Kiyotake, ville de Miyazaki, homme, actuellement âgé de 43 ans, ami de Keisuke Kubota, l'homme qui est venu me traquer de chez moi à Tokyo jusqu'en France Il est même devenu un harceleur interne), Rena Nagasawa (femme, grande et à la peau claire, diplômée d'une université d'art, actuellement estimée à 34 ans, employée de Tanaka Printing Co., Ltd. @ Kiyosumi Shirakawa ou Monzen-Nakacho en 2016, au moins depuis 2021 dans mon esprit Harceleur, intimidation, vol, il a été infecté par le sida de son propre chef et il prévoyait de m'infecter aussi, en 2021, il s'est introduit par effraction dans la clinique Tabata Kitaguchi mal gérée et a volé des seringues usagées, un harceleur dans son esprit. avec enthousiasme. En 2021, j'ai reçu plusieurs menaces en direct de personnes qui ont essayé d'obtenir mon certificat de santé sans virus du sida en se faisant passer pour moi et en se rendant dans divers hôpitaux pour l'obtenir. Un voleur de compétences installé de mémoire a réussi grâce à l'usurpation d'identité et a gagné beaucoup d'argent , convoitait mes affaires, fouillait dans mes vêtements préférés et menaçait de les voler, et prenait mes vêtements de deuil à chez moi. On disait qu'il s'était introduit par effraction dans la chambre du nous et les avait volés vers le mois de mai 2021, mais il a en fait disparu soudainement. Il a également fait des rumeurs selon lesquelles il avait obtenu un passeport chinois à mon nom. Obsession de l'apparence, obsession de créer des vidéos modifiées et de créer des souvenirs fictifs sinistres, incident d'infection par injection sanguine du VIH, incident d'ablation des trompes de Fallope, organe sexuel incident de blessure par déformation, IRM, IRM, CT, (rayons X et autres crimes), Sakurako Ohara (actrice), Honaikoka (batteur) et membres de LUNASEA.
Onigiri can be gluten free, but it typically isn’t when gotten from Japanese convenience stores. The gluten comes from the soy sauce used in the filling which is typically “cut” or bulked up with wheat.
depends on the filling ! that tuna mayo one is gluten-free, for example.
It is not bulked up with wheat, wheat is a traditional completely expected ingredient of soy sauce.
As @Toastybees said, wheat is a normal ingredient important in the making of soy sauce. Professor Ryoichi Iiono cites the 6th century C.E. document, the Qi Min Yao Shu's instructions for making the predecessor sauce for soy sauce "The Seimin-yojutsu [Qi Min Yao Shu in Japanese) details a recipe for soybean sho that has been summarized as follows: Mix steamed black soybeans with white salt, kona koji (powdered wheat kneaded with water and formed into a dough...."
Citation: www.kikkoman.com/jp/kiifc/foodculture/pdf_01/e_012_015.pdf
Tamari is a gluten-free soy sauce typically fermented without grains and is a great alternative for those who need it. Cook's Illustrated did a taste test of soy sauces and found that there was a trend in which tamari lacked balance, taste, and sweetness that soy sauce fermented with wheat has.
Citation: ruclips.net/video/X0QVxuFwvxY/видео.htmlsi=zUxmkWVEQ2mUgFvy&t=246
japanese soy sauce is made with both wheat and soy beans which means it naturally contains gluten, contrary to tamari sauce which is only soy beans or for example a korean soy sauce which also doesnt use wheat. wheat is an integral part of japanese soy sauce.
Is it the Gluten or the Glyphosate that’s destroying peoples guts? My guess, it’s the Glyphosate, since Japan has the lowest usage rate of it in the developed countries.
I really like the concept your videos! At first, I thought you were a big channel already. Hope you keep producing these gems.
Same I was surprised the first video was only 4 month ago.
Makes sense that there's bargain bin sandwiches that you take at the local convinience store, but also gones that are a genuine meal. No reason onigiri can't be the same.
Born in Japan, Raised in Hawaiʻi since age 7. The onigiraza reminds me very much of Hawaiʻi`s very popular Spam-Musubi which has evolved into teri-chicken musubi, tamago musubi, hot-dog musubi etc. The original shape of the Spam musubi was dictated due to the shaped of the Spam slice between the two rice layers, and wrapped in nori. Thought Japanese in origin, it has become a very Hawaiʻi thing. If youʻree ever in Hawaiʻi you should try it. Hawaiʻi 7-11 stores always carry a nice variety.
Its crazy we just call hawaii hawai’i now
Instant subscribe. I love that while there you're digging in depth in a way even some Japanese youtubers haven't bothered.
This video makes me feel better about how I fill my onigiri at home in the US as an old white lady, lol
Of course, tuna mayo is a given, but my hubby is not into fish or strong tasting fish/ingredients
I've put a slice of ham and cheese and scrambled egg for him. Or bacon and egg
My other favorite is opening a tin of smoked kippers or smoked herring/mackerel and mashing it a bit for the middle.
Smoky oily fish really goes well in the salty rice.
Sometimes nice ripe kimchee goes right in the middle, too!
I don't always have big sheets of nori so I tend to pack them naked and bring a few packages of korean gim snacks to wrap them in so it's still crispy.
The trader joes teriyaki flavor is really good on the outside.
Left over teriyaki salmon or chicken also goes well in there.
I never claim its authentic lol
But my half Japanese brother in law absolutely loves the smoked kipper ones.
If we go out fishing for the day, I've been asked to bring double if he's going lol. But he brings the beer 🍺 😂 and edamame beans. Oh and occasionally a huge bag of deep fried salmon skin. Better than corn chips 😅
I need to live with you! Sounds amazing.
Your comments make me so happy! Bacon or ham and egg onigiri sounds delicious, and I love to try the those kipper and herring/mackerel ones. As a Japanese, my favorites are rather traditional (ume-boshi, konbu, okaka, Tsukuda-ni, salmon, and plain with salt), but there are so many kinds of onigiri we can choose out there. There are no limits for filling, mixed-in, topping, or wrap with.
(Oh, the salmon skin (my case is the grilled one) was one of my father's favorites!)
Onigiri is food for the people. There's no such thing as an "improper" onigiri. Fill it with whatever your heart desires! Your onigiri honestly sound very delicious!
@@jimmylin7233 Only not "jam," please...
@@atsukorichards1675 Hey, it’s their kitchen, their fillings
The Bill Wurtz “history of japan” reference made me laugh out loud
A legendary video for sure.
His reach is infinite
Glad I'm not alone (:
Also lulzing about "asking"
same
@@riffzifnab9254
Well, he _did_ ask. From his boats. With guns. Gun-boats.
I love making onigiri at home. I usually go with tuna-mayo and black sesame seeds as filling/flavor.
Gonna try the sesame seed. Thanks for the tip. 👍
Mentaiko all the way for me.
It is maybe more Korean, but my Filipino friend got me into fried Spam inside mine. I thought I hated Spam until he made me try it sliced and fried. It's just like a sandwich, so whatever you want will work.
@@inthefade Spam musubi in Hawaii
Thank you for the video. Here onigiri is usually served in japanese restaurant as a starter for ramen, getting a window to the history and concept behind the food is actually much appreciated.
Honestly, I love these and thought it was more convenient than even a sandwich. I could buy a fifty-pound bag of rice that would never go stale and cost about 20% of what I would pay for even poor-quality bread so that is what I did. Plus a bad of rice that massive was only really sold at an Asian grocery I knew and so I got to pick up stuff not found in a typical grocery.
@@squidward5110 Sure but then I need a lot more stuff to put in the bread. Bread made with just flour and water is boring and takes quite some time.
@@squidward5110 but I also want eggs, milk, and oil for really good bread, not too mention butter.
Then all the added active cooking time. Plus I just don’t want to make bread for four plus people every day. I can make a pot of rice for twenty people every day with basically no effort. Bread? Not so much.
@@squidward5110 nah it keeps for like a week. Also the staple food for the most part is like wonder bread. Real bakery loaves have always had levels of expense and been a luxury throughout history.
Bleach white flour is a product of the industrial revolution not the old world, back then fine flour was for royalty
production quality is casual yet top notch, you deserve more subs my boi
Interestingly, Filipinos STILL prepare and eat sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. That’s usually in the form of “suman” and it can be bought in snack outlets in many parts of the country.
"Suman" is wrapped in banana leaves and steamed "bamboo is a grass and does not contain broad leaves". The Japanese use bamboo shaving from the wood portion of the grass.
@@Viktor-jm9tg I stand corrected. It’s not bamboo leaves! Evidently it’s wrapped in palm or buri leaves. Suman is wrapped and made in a variety of forms. :)
same, in Chinese food we also have variations with Bamboo and Banana leaves, some for holidays, some for everyday consumption
A natto rice ball and a can of Boss Black coffee was my usual breakfast in Japan, and easily powered me through the day up to lunchtime or even late afternoon. The hand-made onigiri you tried out look amazing, but also, I couldn't get over their size. They're huge! I get that there's a generous amount of filling, but it looks like there's also a donburi order's worth of rice there.
Great insights.
I started to cook Japanese food at home (despite the usual sushi) and I love it.
All the best from Germany. ❤
3:48 "when the U.S. 'asked' japan to open the country" 🤣 come on
Yeah.... "asked" is a generous interpretation there
The same way the government "asks" you to pay taxes.
If you think of the term, Onigiri 御握り literally means "Honorable handful". "razu" らず turns it into a negative term. So Onigirazu means "Honorable (not) a handful" which would mean an Onigiri that is bigger than a handful, implying more value for money. As well as being a hip and trendy term of course.
O is just an honorific as in ohashi obento ojyousama. Nigiri means shaped by hand. Onigirazu means “not shaped by hand” since each half is pressed in a form.
hahaha you are so wrong!
I was stationed in Japan for 3 years with my family and I loved onigiri. I just started making them at home and it’s almost nostalgic now
Onigiri comes from the verb, "nigiru" which in this case means to mold or to form. Same origin as nigiri sushi. Onigirazu is a "pun" where the verb is conjugated to a negation, meaning "to not mold/form". So if onigiri can be seen as "formed rice", onigirazu is "non-formed rice" which I thought was pretty clever.
nigeru (nigete) from this video and this comment
My favourite kind of rice doughnuts are the ones that have a little bit of seaweed as a glaze and sour plum salty jelly filling. Canned fish jelly is alright too. Furikake sprinkles always liven up a doughnut!
I remember seeing this as a kid while watching the dub of the first Pokémon season and thinking that Japanese doughnuts were super weird but I still wanted to taste them.
That legit sounds good though
@@lurid_phaesporia yeah, because it's literally onigiri, the king of snack foods
I don't know, why it never occurred to me, but after your description of the original Ton-jiki, I realized, this is basically Zong (粽), or Zòngzǐ, which is sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaf, often with various fillings, and guess what, the most familiar shape is the triangle 🍙
Here in Hawaii we also have the Cantonese joong, found in dim-sum estabshments. They are filled with sticky mochi rice steamed with various fillings and spices wrapped in ti leaf, I think.
They are actually more pyramid shaped, and the size/volume is more like that of three onigiri.
So ono!😋😍
Great video, thank you. The format is great, walking around.
Onigirazu really reminds me of Spam musubi. Of course they both came from onigiri, but still interesting to see the convergent evolution.
Well, a region/historical name for onigiri is omusubi. Hawaii had a huge Japanese influence. During WWII, there were fear that ethnic Japanese were spying and meeting the military to transport intel.
So the USA barred all fishing on Hawaii. With fish no longer being available, an alternative needed to be found. American military bases had surpluses of Spam and soldiers got tired of it, so became quickly available to the public (note places like South Korea and the Philippines on the popularity of spam coinciding with American military bases). Spam musubi was born. No mistake on how it looks like a giant piece of nigiri sushi.
@@Menuki Not to mention, it is a shelf stable meat in a tropical environment.
Hard to tell if Spam Musubi made it to Japan in Post-War Period or via Japanese tourists coming much later to Hawaii. I personally think the timeline and the onigiri sando evolution are more born from the Hawaii timeline.
@@davideriksen9086 the spam musubi requires military bases with a surplus of spam. As the main resupply point in the pacific, Hawaii was overloaded with the spam.
You see spam popularity In similar places like South Korea or the Philippines
Okinawa was the main military base in japan and incidentally the focal point of the onigiri sando, but it not as closely related as you think. Musubi was a product of Japanese utilizing what they had available. The onigiri sando is a convergent evolution of separate factors. US soldier infamously take rations to locals to cook, just for the sake of diversity. Korean Military stew is legendary in that respect. Locals will also change local cuisine to attract US servicemen. Nachos have that history. You can see how a culture without bread might improvise a sandwich in that way.
That being said their difference is that musubi was made by locals for locals whereas the sando was made by locals for Americans.
@@MenukiSupposedly, a local woman of Hawaii and Japanese descent created spam musubi, either Barbara Funamura or Mitsuko Kaneshiro.
I remember the first few times I tried to unwrap convenience store onigiri and failing miserably 😅
Another fascinating video! I would never have guessed that onigiri had such a long history.
My mind was blown when I realised there were numbered tabs on the wrapper
The only problem is, the label sometimes keeps the #1 strip from tearing properly. It's pretty genius how they wrap them so the nori doesn't get soggy.
once I started using short grain rice and learned the proper technique, I couldn’t stop making onigiri!
Tuna mayo is the best, I like making it spicy with this tabasco sriracha I’ve been loving 😋
remember to wash your rice good and soak it for at least 30 minutes
That PitA wrapper at 5:18 is ingeniously practical, keeping the nori fresh and crisp for a perfect onigiri experience😋
Love it! Live near an Asian market in Chicago and have them all the time as a meal or a snack 😅 they’re great and much more filling than they appear.
Tyvm. I am going to make some tomorrow. Get my grand children to try them. Then we can make them together. The history is wonderful to watch whilst they eat and learn.😊❤
I love the information you offer in your videos. Very, ah, nourishing. Great work.
ppl often dont think about that onigiri is related to how rice in japan holds a similar place in food as bread does in europe / many other places. the onigiri is equivalent to a sandwich. the cheap-ish base staple (rice or bread) with other staple fillings (in japan more seafood, ie tuna onigiri, elsewhere more dairy and meat, ie ham and cheese sandwich) and, if you can afford it, some fancier fillings to make it tastier. then both the sandwich and onigiri are easy to bring when travelling or eating on the go - rice is wrapped by nori and the fillings wrapped in rice, the sandwich bread wrapping the fillings inside. a fancy onigiri or fancy sandwich, a cheap onigiri or a cheap sandwich, its all the same.
I grew up in Yokohama in the mid 1960’s. Salmon filled was my favorite!
I didn't know even know you made this channel shift; interesting stuff my dude, keep it up!
Tuna mayo is an extremely common sandwich filling. I really like it with sliced cucumber.
Yeah, I got to that part and I thought, "Who eats their tuna without mayonnaise?"
Onigiri with Ume boshi is my go to, I love it! My Okinawan mother used to make Onigiri with miso paste inside too, but she always made them in round balls as oposed to the triangle shapes you see sold all over Japan.
This was an excellent video. Nice job researching the history and presenting a well rounded picture of this classic. Another reason why onigiri are moving towards onigirazu is the high protein trend currently sweeping Japan, the form factor allows for more protein (like a whole slab of chicken teriyaki) to be stuffed inside.
A very agreeable video about a staple menu item in Japan; I actually enjoyed the learning.
As a carribean that just started making onigiri, i didn't know there were soo many different kinds. I will definately be trying more, my family love them.
4:00 The U.S. did not "ask" Japan to be open. They went there with warships and forced Japan to open its ports. It was American imperialism at its finest.
It's a reference to "the history of the world I guess"
00:00 🍙 Onigiri, or rice balls, have been a staple in Japan for over 2000 years, reflecting deep historical and cultural significance.
01:53 🥡 Onigiri is commonly used as convenient food for travel, but historically it was a ceremonial gift and later became military rations.
03:46 🏛️ The form and presentation of onigiri evolved over centuries, from ritualistic bamboo-wrapped versions to modern convenience store varieties.
04:59 🏪 Onigiri became widely available in convenience stores, reflecting Japan’s industrialization and modernization.
06:23 🍣 Traditional onigiri restaurants, like Onigiri Bongo in Tokyo, offer a more artisanal experience compared to mass-produced versions.
08:04 🌟 Onigirazu, a new trend, is a larger, more complex version of onigiri, often called a "rice sandwich," aiming to make onigiri trendy and flavorful again.
11:02 ❤ Onigiri has adapted over time to meet various needs, from gifts to school lunches to on-the-go meals, demonstrating its enduring versatility and cultural importance.
Matthew, you did an excellent job. It will be thrilling to watch your career.
This really cool because this was the first time i actually ate onigiri and me and my family had so much fun eating and figuring this out so thanks
I can assure you home-made onigiri is tastier. Even the simplest salted onigiri. That is because love was put into it! Mom and grandma's cooking is the best in the world after all. Nothing beats it!
True that, everyone's bachan made the best onigiri
When I was stationed in Japan, breakfast was Miso soup, lunch was 2 or 3 Onigiri (my favourite stand, the lady made the most AMAZING Rafuke Onigiri that I still dream about... she also made bacon & scrambled egg ones that... again, I still dream about & have never been able to recreate). Now that I have a tonne of Korean in-laws, we eat Samgak Kimbap (it's Onigiri) and Kimbap (sooooo close to Onigiri in versatility) several times a week. LOVE it. Tuna/Mayo, Umbeboshi, Curry beef, Lox/Avocado... Dang, hope the rice cooker isn't empty right now!!!!
Fuck yeah
This is really high-quality video! I can't believe you only have 14k subs. It's only a matter of time before your channel gets big!
Your vids are so good! Glad I was here in the early days.
Onigarazu actually got its start from a very long-running cooking manga called Cooking Papa. The story goes that the mangaka's wife was in a hurry one day and adapted onigiri to be more akin to a rice sandiwch for ease of creation. So he adapted the instructions to show off in the manga. It's very popular in Hawaii for potlucks.
I love onigiri!!! I wish it were all over the place in Seattle, USA. I could eat it every day. Thanks for the GREAT video! I loved all the history. Makes me love onigiri even more.
Me too. At least we can get them at Uwajimaya. I really love them with tuna mayo or salmon, they also make a musubi that is chicken asado or adobo or something, that I like a lot.
Reminds me of the Sushirrito sushi burrito craze in America a few years ago. Hopefully if these new trendy Onigiri become trendy we'll get to see it here too.
Onigiri is everywhere in the US. Lol
@@DanielDeadweightNot here we don’t have any Japanese food here. To be honest we don’t have any authentic Japanese, Chinese, or Korean food here. I live in a small county and we don’t get anywhere new here ever. It took until like 2017 until we even got our first and only Chick-Fil-A.
are you sure about that? lol
plus on top of that, the onigiri available in the US is typically mediocre at best too, even from any Japanese supermarkets ><
Trust me you must live in an area where there are actually a higher population of Japanese, because if you don't live in such an area there is 0-5% chance you have any onigiri....lol
The only chance you have onigiri is depending on the amount of Nihonjin that live in your area, or maybe unless you got super lucky someone opened a shop. I'm from Green Bay, Wisconsin and Chicago has a quite large Japanese population and even there outside of the couple Japanese markets it is almost impossible to find onigiri outside of a few places that might have it on the menu...lol
Sounds like you probably have a Mitsuwa or some other Japanese market nearby you or something....lol
We've got a bulgolgirrito joint near work. beef, spicy pork, chicken, seafood. huge portions and busy. Makes me happy. I'd love to see a western take on onigiri too. Like the Poke chains popping up.
Great content.
Well, onigiri is beautiful in its simplicity and variability, the complexity also comes from the fact that the same bases: rice wrapped with a sheet of seaweed plus a filling also apply to its variations if we include Yaki-onigiri, Abura-Onigiri, Tenmusu, Korean gimbap and if we omit the seaweed wrapping there is Chinese zongzi, steamed rice in banana leaf, rice in lotus leaf and several others.
I know I’m late. But this was the most informative video I’ve seen on Onigiri. It’s one of my favorite Japanese foods, and boy, do I miss it!
Great video. Nicely researched and enough depth to make it interesting but not put me to sleep.
You mention onigiri bongo is one of the few remaining onigiri shops, but actually there are a TON of them (it's my favorite food). They are just famous.
When I was young a rice ball was just that...a ball of moist rice with ume in the middle, totally wrapped in nori. They don't even exist anymore, I think. I grew up with them. Likewise cone sushi and Hawaiian style maki sushi (makizushi) is disappearing.
I note that the specialty restaurant had Hawaiian style poke fillings along with some more Japanese, and that the modern ones were basically variations of Spam or Hotdog Musubi first served as cheap snacks or lunch on Kauai. For many years, Japanese tourists were intrigued by the Hawaiianization of Japanese food, and are strong consumers when on vacation.
It is sad for us to see the flavors we grew up with disappear.
This was really enjoyable, fun and informative - I don't however know if it's quite accurate to say that America 'asked' Japan to open up the country to outside trade; large warships are not generally employed when making a friendly request ;)
man... i haven't had onigiri in so long and this vid has brought back my love for its taste actually on top of its simplicity! :D
I love the naming convention - "onigiri" is a noun from the verb "nigiru" to grasp, and could mean "a handful", so the onigiri has the connotation of being eaten somewhere on the go, as a handheld food. But onigirazu is is the negative form of that verb, and so the connotation of eating on the go disappears.
First time in this channel, great content dude! Subscribed!
I'm so glad I came across this video, great subject matter and I love your way of creating and telling a story
Fantastic content! I visited Japan a while ago and was astounded at how good 7-11 is; the food and snacks are pretty good for a convenience store!
This video is awesome the only thing that bugged me was that there was no video stabilization, most cameras now have this feature to help define the footage while on the move. The history and the food looked awesome! I think it would be a great idea to call out the restaurants you went to as well to help their Business.
Thank you!
In the world of food, the small innovation is what makes people excited. Therefore, in the case of Onigirazu, that would be the case.
This video is so well done i was genuinely surprised how low the subcount is 💀. High quality content compared to even bigger youtubers, W fr
That Pokemon clip of Brock calling it a Donut for years after gave me the impression that rice balls were more of a sweet snack. I'd assume filling it with red bean paste might be a thing, but yeah the brainwashing is real.
Tuna and mayonnaise is pretty omnipresent here is the states. I went to a class at our local library to learn to make nigiri, and the one theey made was tuna and mayonnaise. I had actually thought at the time that they were just catering it to American tastes.
haha no kidding. Tuna and mayonnaise, some green onion and celery is a pretty standard tuna salad.
the japanese are pretty crazy about mayo.
Great video. Really nice production and an interesting topic. I was really surprised when I saw the sub count. Keep up the good work! You made it onto my home page.
Thank you for the history lesson on the onigiri. It makes sense that originally, they were made of mochi rice and wrapped in a natural wrapping--hearkening back possibly to the Chinese joong.
Also, a recent development I've noticed in the izakaya in honolulu are the grilled onigiri.😋
I think the history of the onigiri here in Hawaii is it's own thing. We are definitely the birthplace of spam musubi--which i don't really consider a riceball anymore!😅
Doomo arigatoo for the video. I personally shun the plastic molds used by many people--i like to shape my triangle musubi by hand. Also, in the Japanese community in honolulu in the late 20th century the word was to not make round musubi--since those were reserved as funeral food!🤔
You know, it looks a lot like the onigirazu is more of merging onigiri with more european style sandwich fillings.
I remembered seeing another video ages ago on another major channel (Brothers Green Eats, now rebranded as Pro Home Cooks) and I like the concept.
This was great. Congrats 👏🎉
Very promising and informative channel. Keep it up!
When I went to Vegas a while back, there was this place that served sushi burritos, and I think that THAT is the ultimate rice ball "sandwich"! You got to eat everything you like just like with a poke bowl, but it was handheld and easier to take around! Looooooved it
really great video , its helping me with my reasearch for my trip.
The comon foods we take for granted should be cherished, thanks for sharing!
We just learned to make these at home, it's wonderful.
Nice "history of japan i guess" reference.
Cool! I've only recently discovered onigiri here in the Boston area and since I've only found it at one Japanese grocery 15 minutes away, I've been learning to make it! Can't wait to get to Japan and try those onigiri specialty shops. Bonus points because I'm trying to get away from wheat (esp. gluten) and an onigiri sandwich sounds like a good solution!!
Fascinating food history!!! Thank You! NEW subscriber!
Tuna-Mayo Onigiri are soooo good, not boring at all.
I make them myself and put a generous amount inside of the rice ball. Sometimes, I live dangerously and add a bit of onion. 😁
I like a bit of finely chopped dill pickle in my tuna mayo too.
If you like eggs try a slice of hard boiled egg in with the tuna mayo onigiri. It's almost like having an egg salad and tuna mayo sandwich together, lol.
Sorry I just like to eat and share lol. Not everyone in my family is as fascinated with food as I am lol.
Put a little pickle relish when you mix the tuna mayo. Then you're be on the wild side.
love all the historic footage you use, where do you source all your clips?
Great video!
When I was growing up, I used to make my own onigiri with canned tuna fish. When I moved to Japan (back in 2014), I was in onigiri heaven. I was happy to see spam musubi in the combinis recently. My grandmother used to make spam musubi with I was young. Every week it's my ritual to have salmon or tuna onigiri when I am gaming or after doing a workout.
Omg so this what you’ve been doing nice to see you do RUclips again lol
As an American I would LOVE if someone did onigiri locally or even just the 7/11 version in our stores would be welcome. Kinda hard for a single person to make just a few onigiri. (they tend to not store well in a home fridge).
I have a Japanese deli near my house, my son and I walk there and get onigiri and other snacks. (I live in NY)
thank you for your video. its entertaining to know that culture in food can change over time but its still can become a hype on old staple food
I just love the simple and cute round triangle shape of a regular onigiri.
I lived off of those 7/11 onigiri in Japan 😂. So good. I liked the shrimp ones.
As a european i think there should basicly be something like a good bakery but for Onigiri. Its a concept thats realy made for snackfood like that.
Cool video! Thanks! 😊
They started getting popular in upscale supermarkets in Germany at 3 times the price and 1/3 the quality, it's also impossible to open the packaging without tearing the seaweed and some of the rice apart
I'll still get them sometimes in a bout of nostalgia...
I love how onigiri spread to a bunch of countries as well. It may be not the most authentic (we put a type of mayo tuna or chicken in there) but here in Germany, often it gets me trough the day I will have 1 or 2 either during lunch or in the evening instead, it's only 1.99€ per onigiri. But it saves me time cooking when I am too buisy or too tired to cook. They have them in almost every supermarket in the "to go" food isle alongside prepackaged coffees, milkshakes and boba tea now as well.
Onigiri is extremely easy to make using a plastic mold and kitchen scale. A common size is 100 grams of rice and filling. You must make the rice and put seasoned rice vinegar in it, then let it cool a bit until it's just a bit warm, put your mold on a bowl of salt water put about 40 grams rice in it, 20 grams filling and another 40 grams rice, then press and turn it over and slap the onigiri out and put the mold back in the salt water to prevent rice from sticking too much. You must cool the onigiri in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight so it holds its shape nicely. Use furikake seasoning of your choice to add other flavors.
In mitsuwa marketplace in Edgewater NJ. There is a hand made Onigiri shop in the supermarket. They make those handmade large round ball version. It's fabulous. I haven't been there for a while because all the prices in NYC has gone up.
Your story reminds me of it.
3:50 thanks for referencing literally the only education i ever received on the history of Japan.
It was so smooth as well