Rolled Pork and Egg Onigiri

Name: Rolled Pork and Egg Onigiri
Yield: Serves 2–3 servings
Ingredients: about 1 1/3 cups cooked rice (about 300 grams); 4 slices pork luncheon meat; 2 large eggs; 2 sheets roasted seaweed (nori, full size); as needed Vegetable oil,; Salt, to taste; Pinch bonito dashi granules; Pinch kombu dashi granules

ぷらっちょ @cook_40094788

I layered rice, pork, and a Japanese omelet, then wrapped them with two sheets of roasted seaweed. These are a bit smaller and easier to eat—think of them as mini pork and egg onigiri.
Recipe background:
There are many shapes of pork and egg onigiri, but the most common are the onigirazu (rice sandwich) style or barrel-shaped rice balls. I thought maybe layering and rolling would make them easier to eat, and maybe adding tuna would be good too, so I tested it out. I’d like to try making even more mille-feuille-style versions in the future.

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Ingredients

Serves 2–3 servings

about 1 1/3 cups cooked rice (about 300 grams)
4 slicespork luncheon meat
2large eggs
2 sheetsroasted seaweed (nori, full size)
as neededVegetable oil,
Salt, to taste
Pinchbonito dashi granules
Pinchkombu dashi granules

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Steps

1

Here are the main ingredients. Hot rice works best. For the pork, I used a brand called Midland, but any pork luncheon meat will do.
2

Sprinkle a little salt over the rice and mix well.
3

Crack the eggs into a bowl, add a pinch of salt, bonito dashi, and kombu dashi, and beat well.
4

Heat some vegetable oil in a tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet) pan, pour in the eggs, and gently stir with chopsticks as they cook.
5

Once the eggs start to set, insert chopsticks in the center and flip the omelet over.
6

This is how you remove the cooked omelet: twist the chopsticks in the center as you lift. Transfer the omelet to a tray and let it cool.
7

Slice the pork luncheon meat into pieces about 1/4–1/3 inch (7–8 mm) thick. I used a special slicer, but a kitchen knife works just fine.
8

Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and brown the pork slices on both sides.
The slicer makes 9 slices, but you’ll only need 4 for this recipe.
9

Place the cooked pork slices on top of the omelet and cut them to the same size.
You’ll have a little omelet left over—feel free to snack on it!
10

On the center of a sheet of nori, spread 1/3 of the rice in a strip the width of the pork. Place 2 pieces of pork and egg on top and press gently.
11

Add another 1/3 of the rice on top of the first layer of pork and egg, then place the remaining 2 pieces of pork and egg on top. Press gently, then add the remaining rice and shape everything neatly.
12

You’ll have a layered (mille-feuille) effect with the rice and pork-egg.
Wet your hands slightly to help shape the layers.
13

Now it’s time to roll. Before rolling, dab a few grains of rice on the far edge of the nori to help seal it with the second sheet of nori.
14

Attach the second sheet of nori.
Make sure the shiny side of the nori is facing out.
15

Now just roll it up. I thought about using a sushi mat, but since you don’t need to squeeze it tightly like a sushi roll, just roll it gently by hand.
16

After rolling, you can wrap it in a sushi mat and let it sit for a bit so the nori softens.
First, cut it right down the middle.
17

Cut each half again, making 6 pieces in total.
Of course, you can also just bite right in without cutting!
18

I served these for lunch with Okinawan-style yushi tofu and the leftover omelet and pork. Some plain white rice would go great with it too!