Cup of Yum
1. Discard the seeds from 5 pieces ume from ume miso and mince the flesh.
2. Roll up 5 shiso leaves (perilla/ooba) and cut them into julienned strips. Add the minced ume and shiso to 3 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice.
3. Add ½ tsp toasted white sesame seeds and combine everything together.

To Make the Onigiri

Cup of Yum
1. First, prepare a small bowl with water. Wet both of your hands with water. This helps preventing the rice from sticking to your hands.
2. Dip 2–3 fingertips in Diamond Crystal kosher salt and spread it all around your palms.
3. Scoop out a handful of rice into one hand.
4. Gently press the rice to form into a triangle shape with your hands. I use three fingers (thumb, index finger, middle finger) to make a triangle corner. Your hands should be just firm enough so the onigiri doesn’t fall apart. You don’t want to squeeze the rice too tight.
5. If you have never tried making onigiri, please see my detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to make Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls). Please read the instructions first before the prep.

To Store

1. If you want to keep the leftover onigiri, you can wrap the finished onigiri (in plastic wrap) with a thick kitchen towel to seal in the moisture when stored in the refrigerator. Rice gets hard and dry in the refrigerator. Hopefully, with this easy trick, your onigiri will be cool enough to stay safe.