How To Make Vegan Onigiri + Cute Bear Shape
Learn how to make Vegan Onigiri! Fill them with Sweet Red Beans, or Vegan "Tuna" Mayo. They are wrapped with crunchy nori seaweed and often packed into lunch boxes (obento) or eaten as a snack or meal in Japan. Onigiri are so easy to make and are perfect for meal prep, you will love them!
Servings: 6 balls
Ingredients
- 2 cups of cooked japanese short grain rice (400g)
Vegan "Tuna" mayo filling
- 100 grams chickpeas, canned (3.5 oz)
- 50 grams vegan mayo (1.7 oz)
- 2 teaspoon capers with water
- salt & pepper to taste
Sweet red bean filling
- 100 grams red bean paste (3.5 oz)
Toppings and decoration
- Furikake Mix
- Nori sheets, dried roasted seaweed
- Sprouts, such as pea sprouts
- Roasted Sesame Seeds
Instructions
- Wet your hands with cold water, optional with a pinch of salt. This stops the rice from sticking to your hands and helps keep it fresher for longer. If your rice is still hot let it cool down a bit (fan the rice with a rice fan to make it shiny and cool down quicker). It should be cool enough for you to handle it with your hands.
- Get a spoonful of rice with a wooden spoon, or rice spatula. If you are adding fillings inside, make an indent, place 1-2 teaspoon filling into the mold and fold the rice slightly over. Top with another spoonful to close off. Then lightly press into the desired shape (triangle, ball, etc) rotating as you go so it’s even. An alternative to forming them with your hands is using an onigiri mold.Shape into ovals for bear-shaped onigiri. Form also three small balls for ears and nose and attach to ovals by slightly pressing them onto it.
- Set aside, or dip in furikake. Wet hands again if rice begins to stick and repeat for the remaining rice portions.
- Shortly before serving* place a slice of nori on the bottom of the onigiri, rough side in towards the rice. Then fold it up towards the middle of the onigiri. For bear-shaped onigiri use a nori sheet to cut out eyes and nose, either with a nori stamp or by hand with scissors.
Notes
*Why wait to wrap the nori sheet around the rice ball shortly before eating? If you let your onigiri sit with nori sheets around them, the nori sheet will absorb moisture from the rice, which will make the seaweed soggy, chewy and harder to eat.