Onigiri Lunch Set

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked short-grain rice, warm (must be short-grain; long-grain won't hold hands)
• 6 oz cooked Salmon, flaked and seasoned with a little soy
• 2 sheets nori, cut in bands
• Fillings beyond the Salmon: umeboshi if you have, tuna-mayo, or leftover anything savory
• Salt water for your hands
• Sesame seeds

Method

1. Wet your hands in salted water — the salt seasons the surface, the water defeats the stickiness. Re-dip between every onigiri.
2. Take a ball of warm rice, press a divot, tuck in a spoonful of Salmon, and cap with more rice.
3. Shape with cupped palms into the triangle: three light squeezes, rotating — firm enough to hold, loose enough to bite through. Grandmother-grade pressure comes with practice.
4. Band with nori (added late = crisp; added early = soft and traditional — both schools valid) and dust with sesame.
5. Pack or eat immediately. Japan's original portable lunch, unchanged for a thousand years because it was right the first time.