Umeboshi & Shiso Onigiri

⏱ 45 min · Serves 4

Warm, salted rice hugging a tart-salty plum, wrapped in fragrant shiso and crisp nori. The Japanese lunchbox classic — simple, portable and quietly addictive.

Per serving: 290 kcal · 5.5g protein · 61.0g carbs · 1.8g fat

Ingredients

• 300g Japanese short-grain rice (about 1.5 rice-cooker cups)
• 400ml cold water
• 1 tsp fine sea salt, for shaping (plus a bowl of water)
• 6 umeboshi (pickled plums), pitted and torn into 8 pieces total
• 8 fresh shiso (perilla) leaves
• 2 sheets toasted nori, each cut into 4 strips
• 1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds (optional)

Method

1. Rinse the rice in cold water, swirling and draining, until the water runs almost clear — 3 or 4 changes. Drain well and leave 15 minutes.
2. Cook the rice with the 400ml water in a rice cooker, or in a lidded pan: bring to the boil, cover, reduce to the lowest heat for 12 minutes, then rest off the heat, lid on, for 10 minutes.
3. Fluff the rice with a wet paddle and let it cool until hot-but-handleable, about 5 minutes. Divide mentally into 8 portions.
4. Set out a small bowl of water and a saucer of salt. Wet your hands, rub a pinch of salt over your palms.
5. Take a portion of rice, flatten it slightly in your palm, press a piece of umeboshi into the middle, then fold the rice over to enclose.
6. Shape into a triangle: cup one hand into a V, press the top with the other, rotating a third-turn between presses. Firm but gentle — you want it to hold, not compact into a brick.
7. Press a shiso leaf onto one flat side of each onigiri, then wrap a strip of nori around the base.
8. Scatter with sesame seeds and serve warm, or wrap in cling film and eat within the day at room temperature — never fridge-cold, it ruins the rice.