Sweet, savoury and quintessentially Japanese, these Onigiri with shigureni are quick to make and bursting with Umami flavour. The beef, cooked in ginger and a soy sauce broth, is a classic Japanese home-cooked dish – paired with freshly cooked rice and a nori sheet, it’ll become your new meal prep favourite. You simply must try this recipe!
Braised beef with ginger, or as we call it in Japanese, Shigureni, is a simple yet classic recipe often prepared at home in Japan.
It’s quick and easy to make using common ingredients found in Japanese cuisine. Thin strips of beef are simmered in a sweet, ginger-flavoured soy sauce broth.
Shigureni goes particularly well with freshly cooked rice, so it is often packed together as Onigiri rice balls for Bento boxes or served as a side dish for a quick dinner.
If you’d like to find out more about Onigiri, I recommend this post: → How to make your own Onigiri: 5 passaggi per le bolle di riso giapponesi!
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Unusual for Japanese cuisine, but true: When preparing Shigureni, we don’t skimp on the spices. The beef should taste sweet and savoury with a wonderful ginger aroma and is intended to be eaten with plain steamed white rice.
To prepare the Shigureni filling for the Japanese rice balls, we cut the fresh ginger into fine strips. We also slice the beef steak as thinly as possible.
Pour the soy sauce, Sake, Mirin, sugar, water and ginger strips into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Then gradually add the steak strips to the stock. Once all the meat is in the saucepan, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the cooking liquid has almost completely evaporated.
Once the steak strips are cooked, remove them from the pan and leave to cool. Simmer the remaining liquid for a further 5 minutes. Then pour this into a bowl to cool. Next, chop the steak into small pieces.
Return the pieces of meat to the bowl and mix with enough stock to create a lovely, glossy Shigureni filling for the rice balls.
Next comes shaping: take a little rice between your wet palms and, applying pressure, first shape it into a round ball and then carefully flatten it slightly to form round discs. Now wrap the Onigiri in Nori. And there you have it – your homemade chicken Teriyaki Onigiri!
You can find all the details and pictures for each step of the preparation here in my recipe. Have fun and good luck!
Shigureni Onigiri
Makes 6 | 45 minutes | 304 kcal
🖨️ Print PDF 📌 Save pinSweet, savoury and quintessentially Japanese, these Shigureni Onigiri are quick to make and bursting with Umami flavour. The beef, cooked in ginger and a soy sauce broth, is a classic Japanese home-style dish – combined with freshly cooked rice and a sheet of nori, it’ll become your new meal prep favourite. You have to try this recipe!
Ingredients (serves 6)
600 g cooked rice (see recipe):
✔ 300 g loose rice (im Shop ansehen)*
✔ 300 ml water (fresh, cold tap water)
✔ 1 pinch salt
For the filling:
200 g beef steak
20 g ginger
5 tbsp soya sauce (im Shop ansehen)*
5 tbsp Sake (im Shop ansehen)*
5 tbsp Mirin (im Shop ansehen)*
1 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp water
2 sheets Nori (im Shop ansehen)*
Useful utensils:
Onigiri mould – Rice mould set for rice triangles (im Shop ansehen)*
Japanese Yukihiara saucepan
Japanese Santoku knife (im Shop ansehen)
Preparation (45 minutes)
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients for the Onigiri and take the rice (see the recipe here in a rice cooker or in a saucepan + leave to cool for 20 minutes).
Step 2
Prepare the Shigureni filling for the Japanese rice balls: To do this, peel the fresh ginger and cut it into fine strips. Also, cut the beef steak into slices as thin as possible.
Step 3
Place soya sauce, Sake, Mirin, sugar, water and the ginger strips in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Step 4
Then gradually add the strips of steak to the stock. Once all the meat is in the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the cooking liquid has almost completely evaporated.
Step 5
Once the steak strips are cooked, remove them from the pan and leave to cool.
Leave the remaining stock to simmer for a further 5 minutes . Then pour this into a bowl to cool.
Step 6
Then chop the steak into small pieces. Return the pieces of meat to the bowl and mix with enough stock (about 5 tbsp) to create a lovely, glossy Shigureni filling for the rice balls.
Step 7
Cut the Nori sheets into 3 equal parts using scissors.
Step 8
Now take out the rice. Next, fill a small bowl with lightly salted water and have it ready. Dip the onigiri mould (both the large and small sides) into the water to shape the rice balls, then let them drain briefly.
Fill the large side of the onigiri mould halfway with about 50 g of the prepared rice and form a small hollow in the centre for the filling.
Place some of the filling into the hollow (but not too much, otherwise it will all spill out).
Step 9
Next, fill the mould with 50 g of rice (but do not fill it beyond the rim, otherwise everything will spill out the sides).
Now place the lid of the onigiri mould onto the rice and press both sides together with light pressure. Open the onigiri mould by removing the lid. On the back of the long side of the mould, press the small triangle slightly inwards to remove the rice triangle from the mould.
Step 10
Wrap the rice triangle with the nori strips as if with a coat.
Make 5 more Onigiri using the remaining ingredients!
Step 11
Once all the Onigiri are ready, they should be eaten as soon as possible. Onigiri are best when fresh, as the rice dries out quickly after a while and the nori sheet becomes slightly soggy. Done – Itadakimasu!
Are you looking for even more delicious Onigiri recipe ideas from Japan? Here you’ll find my most popular guides:
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Have you tried the recipe? Let me know in the comments, I can’t wait to hear from you!
