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Traditional Japanese sushi is assumed to have been brought over by Buddhist migrants from ancient China. The Chinese then integrated into Japanese society, as did much of their culture. Japanese sushi in the beginning, was made of fermented fish and rice, eaten cold due to the fact that Buddhists do not consume extensive amounts of red meat or pork. Fish was an easy alternative and throughout the years, it evolved into the quick but delectable sushi rolls we know very well.

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Seen here: onigiri. A type of sushi crafted in Japan as a very technical handheld food. Onigiri means Japanese rice ball. Onigiri always has a filling of some sort, some of my favorite fillings are spicy tuna, masago (salmon fish eggs), and umeboshi (pickled plum). The rice ball is then wrapped with seaweed.

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Seen Here: Sashimi, traditional thinly sliced fermented fish, often served with lemons or onion on the side. In this photo, there is yellowtail, salmon, and tuna.

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American sushi was brought over in the 60s and popularized due to the boom of Japanese emigration to the states. Some of the first Japanese restaurants came from California and were seen as exotic, and exciting. This enticed people to visit Japan, where they were exposed to sushi and caused many more Japanese restaurants to open across the country.

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Seen here: California roll. Created because tuna was out of season in CA. The imitation crab replaces the fish-y flavor of tuna. The avocado mimics the texture of tuna. The rice on the outside offers a softer, more filling feel as opposed to the crunch of a maki roll.

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Seen here: Race City Roll. Created by the restaurant owner at Monsoon Asian Grill here in Mooresville. This roll is as untraditional as you can get. It's deep fried, covered in spicy mayo and eel sauce, and scallions and tobiko topping. You'd never see something like this in Japan which is why it's called the Race City roll! Perfect for our little town!

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I put my knowledge to the test and made onigiri from home! I combined what I know of Japanese sushi and used the ingredients I could get here in America.

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Gather your ingredients! From left to right I have; seaweed squares, onigiri mold, rice vinegar, tuna, white rice, (mildly) spicy sauce, and sesame seeds.

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Set your burner heat to high. For one serving, I used 1/3 cup of rice and about 2/3 cup of water. Let this come to a boil!

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While your rice is cooking, mix your spicy sauce with your tuna. I did this measurement by eye but I would estimate I used about a tablespoon of sauce. I used "boom boom shrimp sauce" but you can easily make spicy tuna using spicy mayo or sriracha.

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Once your rice has absorbed the water, turn the burner to OFF, and cover with a lid. Let this steam for at least 10 minutes.

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Once the rice has steamed, let it cool down as it is easier to mold when room temperature. I dampened the inside of the onigiri mold with rice vinegar and salt so it won't stick too much on the inside. I added rice vinegar using a dropper to the rice, to make it have that traditional sushi rice texture. I lined the mold about 1/3 of the way full with rice.

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Use the inside part of the onigiri mold to stamp exactly where your filling will go. This prevents it from being too high up or too low.

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As you can see in the first photo, the spicy tuna is centered and ready to be packed in with the rest of the rice on top.

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Pack in the rest of the rice around and on top of the tuna.

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Use the back part of the onigiri mold to firmly press the rice down.

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Once your rice looks like the photo below, you will know it is perfectly compacted and has rounded in shape. Put the lid on the mold and shake to unstick the rice from the inside of the mold so that we can plate.

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Garnish the sides with sesame seeds. Use a slice of seaweed to give that signature onigiri seaweed center and plate with plenty of extra seaweed sheets!

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Spicy Tuna Onigiri made by Madalyn Buro.

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Spicy Tuna Onigiri made by Madalyn Buro.

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Difficulty Level: 6/10
Flavor level: 8/10
Enjoyment of process: 10/10
What I would do next time: I would definitely try a different kind of filling. Due to time circumstances, I had to use tuna but I would love to experiment with salmon, shrimp, and even masago (my personal favorite). I recommend that anyone try this recipe because it was honestly a great addition to my meal and it was fun to make!

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Onigiri - AsianFoodLovers.com Onigiri 2020 https://www.asianfoodlovers.com/onigiri
Sashimi - Kim Jose Monsoon Asian Grill Sashimi 2020
Traditional Cali Roll - Madalyn Buro Monsoon Asian Grill Cali Roll 2021
Race City - Madalyn Buro Monsoon Asian Grill Race City Roll 2019