Teriyaki Chicken Onigirazu

📝 Ingredients

• 180 g sushi rice + 220 ml water
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar + 2 tsp caster sugar (to season the rice)
• 300 g chicken breast (2 fillets of about 150 g each)
• 3 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp honey + 10 g fresh ginger (for the teriyaki sauce)
• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• 2 nori sheets
• 4 lettuce leaves
• 1 carrot (about 100 g)
• ½ cucumber (about 150 g)
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• Salt

🍴 Utensils

• Fine sieve
• Saucepan with lid
• Frying pan
• Grater
• Cling film
• Large, very sharp knife

📖 Steps

1. Rinse the sushi rice in the fine sieve under cold water, rubbing it between your hands, until the water runs almost clear (4 to 5 rinses). Leave to drain for 10 minutes.
2. Put the rice and the 220 ml water in the saucepan, bring to the boil, cover and cook for 12 minutes over a very low heat. Turn off the heat and leave to stand for 10 minutes without lifting the lid.
3. Mix the rice vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt until dissolved. Spread the hot rice out in a large dish, drizzle with this mixture and work it in by “cutting” through the rice with a spatula, without crushing it. Cover with a damp tea towel.
4. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to make escalopes about 1 cm thick. In a bowl, mix the soy sauce, honey and peeled, grated ginger: that's the teriyaki sauce.
5. Heat the oil in the frying pan over a medium-high heat and cook the chicken for 3 minutes per side, until golden and white all the way through. Pour in the sauce and let it bubble for 1 to 2 minutes, turning the chicken, until glazed. Leave to cool.
6. Peel and grate the carrot. Cut the cucumber lengthways into thin slices and pat them dry. Wash and thoroughly dry the lettuce leaves: wet vegetables would make the nori soggy.
7. Lay down a large sheet of cling film, then a sheet of nori in a diamond shape, shiny side down. In the centre, spread a quarter of the rice into a 10 cm square (with wet hands), sprinkle with sesame seeds, then stack lettuce, chicken, carrot and cucumber on top.
8. Cover with a second quarter of the rice, then fold the four corners of the nori into the centre, pressing firmly. Wrap tightly in the cling film and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
9. Cut each onigirazu in half through the film with the large knife, rinsing it under water between each cut. Keep in the fridge and eat within 24 hours.