Name: Wasabi Mayo Crab Onigirazu
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup mayonnaise (We used Kewpie.); 1 tsp wasabi; 4 sheets plastic wrap (a little larger than the size of the nori dried seaweed sheet); 4 sheets nori ((dried seaweed/laver)); 4 cups rice (cooked and cooled short grained Japanese sushi rice); 6 oz crab meat (either imitation crab, real crab picked over for shell or canned crab.); 16 slices diakon pickles (thin sliced or any other pickles of choice); 36 slices cucumbers (with peel (or other vegetables of choice like super thin slices of carrot, celery, purple cabbage, etc)); 4 toothpicks ((use as a marker to know which way to cut the onigirazu))

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Wasabi Mayo Crab Onigirazu is a fun sandwich made with Japanese sushi rice, crab meat and fresh vegetables. Topped with a zesty wasabi mayo and folded over with a nori (seaweed) wrapper to be enjoyed as a picnic lunch or in a bento box.

Onigiri vs Onigirazu

Have you ever enjoyed a Japanese onigiri? Onigiri are Japanese sushi rice balls stuffed with items like tuna and mayo, pickled plums, bonito flakes, sesame seeds, furikake seasoning, etc. and are shaped into a small triangle and then wrapped neatly and tightly with a nori leaf. These are delicious but very VERY small little treats that you can pick up at any market or even at the 7/11's in Japan and around Asia.

An Onigirazu is the large sandwich sized portion of an onigiri.

Wasabi Mayo Crab Onigirazu

Some brilliant person created what they call an onigirazu, which is a LARGE sized onigiri that can fit lots of fun fillings and the perfect sized treat for lunches or bento boxes. Brilliant, I tell you as these treats are sandwich sized. The onigirazu craze is hitting Japan like a storm.

Come and join the craze with this delicious unique sandwich that you can really stuff with anything your little heart desires. I have seen onigirazu stuffed with yakitori (grilled chicken), tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlets, sushi, fried eggs, vegetables and you name it. Today, I wanted to share with you a fun and easy wasabi mayo crab onigirazu.

Layers of sushi rice, vegetables, crab and Kewpie mayo on top of nori.

Ingredients

I love the layers of flavors in the wasabi mayo crab onigarizu starting with crisp outer layer of seaweed (nori/laver) and then the tender and filling short grained Japanese rice, spicy wasabi mayonnaise, sweet gluten-free crab meat, bright yellow crisp diakon radish pickles and many fresh vegetables.

You can use fresh steamed crab picked over for shells. I used a gluten-free brand of imitation crab meat or you could even used tinned crab if you wish. I just happen to like daikon pickles but really any tart and savory pickle will be beautiful in this wasabi mayo crab onigirazu.

Onigirazu sandwich but in half and decorated with cute items for a children's bento box.

Wasabi Mayonnaise

Wasabi mayo is just made with 2 ingredients

Wasabi paste
Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise

If you cannot find wasabi, you can substitute horseradish sauce. You do not need to use the Kewpie brand mayo as any one in your refrigerator will work well.

Nori

Nori is dried seaweed and some of you may know it as laver. I like to use the full large sheet so you can fill with more exciting fillings. You can find the nori leaves in any Asian food store or in the Asian food section of your market.

If you cannot find nori leaves then of course you could still make a modified onigirazu with a large tortilla, collard greens, etc.

Close up showing the layers of crab, rice, Japanese pickles in the sushi hand held sandwich.

Bento Box Craze

When we used to live in Japan. I used to have to make a bento box for my youngest son every day for school and I sure wish I new about these onigirazu back then.

Of course, you do not need to garnish your treats with bumblebees, flowers and ladybugs but you sure win some style points with the other kids if you do. Have fun with this Wasabi Mayo Crab Onigirazu recipe.

Tips for Success

Japanese short-grained rice works best as this rice is sticky and holds shape in the Wasabi Mayo Crab onigirazu.
I also use a plastic wrap to help tightly seal the onigirazu together and it is nice to make them the night before or in the morning before so that the onigirazu hold together well.
Also if you wet your knife with a little water or rice vinegar before you slice your onigirazu in half it will prevent your knife from sticking.

How to Assemble?

Practice makes perfect when assembling your wasabi mayo crab onigarizu so be patient with yourself. It is not really too hard if you remember these 4 basic steps.

1) Place your nori sheet on your table on an angle so it looks like a diamond.
2) Use ½ cup cooked rice for the bottom, press down, fill with crab, wasabi mayo and vegetables evenly, among the four onigarizu.
3) Place a final ½ cup of top of all of your fillings
4) Pull up the sides of the nori and fold like an envelope and tightly wrap saran wrap to hold onigirazu together.

Japanese Picnic Recipes

Tuna Mayo Rice Balls

Super Easy Crab Salad

Sesame Burdock Root Salad

Japanese Crispy Rice Onigiri

Lemon Diakon Radish Refrigerator Pickles

Soba Noodle Salad with Yuzu Dressing

Now of course some delicious Magic Matcha Bars are just the perfect sweet ending to this delicious picnic lunch.

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