Grilled rice cakes (yaki onigiri) with chilli brown butter

Here I’m bringing my love of Japanese food to the barbecue, cooking grilled yaki onigiri with chilli brown butter. This is so good, with heaps of flavour and texture!

Grilled rice cakes (yaki onigiri) with chilli brown butter. Credit: Fun'Q with Spencer Watts

• serves

  4

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 cups sushi rice
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp mirin
• 3 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• chopped chives, to garnish, optional

Soy brush

• 2½ tbsp soy sauce
• 2½ tbsp mirin

Furikake  

• 1 sheet nori
• 1½ tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp togarashi

Sweet chili brown butter

• ½ cup ice cold butter
• ⅓ cup sweet chilli sauce

Chilling time: 2-4 hours.

Instructions

1. Make sushi rice according to package instructions. Combine mirin, rice vinegar and salt in a bowl and gently fold into the rice. Allow to cool and soak up the seasoning.
2. Press the rice into a shallow loaf pan lined with plastic wrap. Cover in plastic and allow to set and cool in fridge for 2-4 hours.
3. When set, turn the rice out of the pan onto a board – do not remove plastic wrap. Cut 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick slices horizontally along the loaf. Once all slices are cut remove plastic wrap.
4. For soy brush: Add soy sauce and mirin to a small bowl and mix until combined.
5. For furikake: Using scissors cut small slices of nori into a bowl. Mix togarashi into nori slices as well as salt, sugar, and roasted sesame seeds.
6. Place a pot or pan onto medium high heat to get nice and hot. Add ice cold cubed butter to the pan. Mix butter with whisk until it is brown in colour and has a sweet nutty smell. Add hot brown butter (Only add golden smooth butter, do not add the milk solids stuck to the bottom of the pot) to any store bought, room temperature sweet chili sauce in a separate bowl, not on heat. Whisk together.
7. Pre-heat the barbecue grill to medium-high.
8. Start by oiling the grill to make sure the rice does not stick. Grill rice blocks, cut side down, on direct heat until there are light char marks on one side, then flip. While the other side grills, brush the charred side of rice with soy brush. Remove rice once there are char marks on both sides, and the blocks brushed on both sides.
9. Drizzle sweet chili brown butter on top of grilled rice once off the heat and garnish with furikake spice blend. Finish with a sprinkle of chives (optional).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.