Easy Rice Sandwich Onigirazu

Easy-to-make rice sandwich with fresh plant-based ingredients!

日本語は、こちらから。

In the last post, I shared a recipe for sushi in touch pouch, which is a delicious dish but the 3 steps involved in making it might be daunting for people who are new to Japanese cooking. Also, I know some people (even some Japanese!) are not a huge fan of sushi rice (rice with vinegar). So, today I’m going to share a recipe for easy-to-make Japanese style sandwich with rice and nori seaweed.

You may be familiar with “onigiri” – Japanese rice balls. The word “nigiri,” just like used in “nigiri-zushi” (sushi with a piece of fish over small rice ball), means to squeeze. So onigiri and nigirizushi involves squeezing rice into balls.

Today’s dish, “onigirazu,” literally means non-nigiri or not squeezed. It became hugely popular few years ago because it’s easy to make (no need to make into a rice ball) and you can put in bigger things inside (with rice ball, you can only put a small portion of pickled vegetables, fish/meat, etc.). So it’s a lot more like sandwich except it’s made with rice and wrapped in nori seaweed:)

Slice avocado (1/2) and cucumber (1/2).

Put a big sheet of nori seaweed on plastic wrap. Take 1 bowl of cooked rice (brown or white, but short sticky kind like Japanese) and spread half the amount evenly on nori.

Place pre-washed lettus and avocado slices.

Put onion dressing, vegan mayonnaise and shoyu koji.

Put cucumber slices.

Put rest of the rice on top and on sides.

Bring the four corners of nori to the center to wrap it up. Then wrap with the plastic wrap. Set aside to let the nori soften.

Wet the knife and cut the onigirazu in the middle.

You can actually put all sorts of things, like salad, cooked vegetables or even fried soy meat inside this rice sandwich, and it would be a great lunch to pack! Enjoy!

Easy Rice Sandwich Onigirazu

Servings: 2 pieces of onigirazu

Ingredients:

• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 cucumber
• 2-3 leaves of lettuce
• Dressing
  • Onion dressing – as needed
  • Vegan mayonnaise – as needed
  • Shoyu koji – as needed
• 2 bowls of cooked rice (1 bowl for a piece of onigirazu)
• 2 sheets of nori seaweed (1 bowl for a piece of onigirazu)

Instructions:

1. Slice avocado and cucumber.
2. Place nori seaweed on plastic wrap. Take 1 bowl of cooked rice (brown or white, but short sticky kind like Japanese) and spread half the amount evenly on nori.
3. Put lettuce, avocado, dressing and cucumber.
4. Put the rest of rice on top and on sides.
5. Bring the four corners of nori to the center to wrap it up. Then wrap with the plastic wrap. Set aside to let the nori soften.
6. Wet the knife and cut the onigirazu in the middle.