Tinned Fish Onigiri

Tinned fish is already easy to use. Pop a tin, pair with your favorite hearty bread and a quick salad, and you have a fully balanced, simply delicious meal. Craving that simplicity, but want to indulge in a different cultural palate? Look to the culinary masters of Japan for one of our personal favorite ways to utilize your tins: Japanese rice balls known as Onigiri. Any quality tin of fish will do (the simplicity will let the flavor of your tin shine), but traditional preparations rely on tuna, or more recently, salmon. We’re lucky enough to still have a few tins of Wildfish Cannery’s Smoked Salmon Belly sitting on the shelves, and we couldn’t hesitate to let those take center stage.

Reading this while salmon belly is out of season? Try the recipe with one of these tins instead:

• Ramon Pena Yellowfin Tuna Belly in EVOO
• FANGST Salmon w/Sea Buckthorn & Lemon Verbena
• JOSE Gourmet Mackerel Fillets in Curry
• Gueyu Mar Chargrilled Sardine Tails in EVOO

INGREDIENTS

• Rice (short grain will stick together better – Calrose is available in most grocery stores)
• Salt
• Tinned Fish (we used Wildfish Cannery Smoked Salmon Belly)
• Barnacle Furikake and/or Kelp Flakes (we used both)
• Nori (optional, and best used as a tool to pick Onigiri up without rice sticking to your hands)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare rice (according to package directions, an online tutorial, or your Bachan/Nona/Grandma’s old world wisdom) and allow to cool to a workable (with your hands) temperature
2. Season rice (some recipes call for vinegar, but we recommend only using salt) to taste
3. Fill and form the rice balls
   • Prepare a bowl of water to wet your hands before and in between each rice ball (prevents sticking)
   • Scoop ~1/2 cup of rice into the palm of your hand and form a divot in the middle
   • Scoop 2 tablespoons of fish into divot and cover with just enough rice to enclose
   • Roll rice into a well formed ball before shaping
4. Shape rice balls into Onigiri triangles
   • Flatten one side of your rice ball with the palm of one hand
   • Use your other hand, with fingers bent ~90 degrees from your palm, to shape remaining two flat edges
   • Flatten both faces of the Onigiri and repeat until desired shape is achieved
5. Season your Onigiri (we used a mix of Barnacle Furikake and Kelp Flakes)
6. Enjoy! (some recipes wrap finished Onigiri with nori, which we find dries the rice out, so we leave it off)

– Thanks to Chase Pinkney for the recipe –