Furikake: Japanese Rice Seasoning, Buy or Mix Your Own

Flavor and origin

Furikake tastes salty, nutty and of the sea, with a slight sweetness. Bonito flakes add smoke and umami. The name comes from the verb furikakeru, “to sprinkle over”. Japanese producers have sold such sprinkle seasonings since the early 20th century. Today furikake packets fill whole meters of shelf in Japanese supermarkets.

Types

• Nori tamago: with dried egg, nori and sesame. Mild and popular with children.
• Katsuo or okaka: with bonito flakes and soy sauce, strong and smoky.
• Shake: with dried salmon.
• Yukari: red shiso salt, tangy and herbal. Strictly speaking a category of its own, but used the same way.
• Wasabi or ume: hot or sour, more for adults.
• Vegan blends: sesame, nori, salt, often with shiitake powder or shiso.

Mixing furikake yourself

Mixed yourself, furikake tastes fresher, and you decide the salt and sugar. This amount is enough for about 15 bowls of rice.

1. Toast the sesame: Toast 4 tbsp light sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Keep them moving constantly. Put in a bowl.
2. Season the bonito: Put 10 g bonito flakes in the pan, drizzle 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp sugar over them and stir for 2 to 3 minutes over low heat, until the flakes are dry and crumbly.
3. Cut up the nori: Cut 2 sheets of toasted nori into fine strips with scissors or crumble them by hand.
4. Mix: Combine sesame, bonito, nori and ½ tsp salt. Let cool completely, then fill into a screw-top jar.

Vegan version: Instead of bonito use 1 tbsp dried shiitake, ground to powder in a blender, or 2 tbsp aonori. A teaspoon of chili flakes or some grated lemon zest changes the character.

Using up leftovers: Kombu and bonito left over after making dashi work well. Chop both fine, simmer them dry with 1 tbsp each of soy sauce and mirin and mix in sesame. That gives a moister furikake that keeps in the refrigerator for about a week. You find more about the stock itself under Dashi and dashi powder.

Uses

• Rice: over a bowl of white rice, in Tamago kake gohan or over a Donburi bowl.
• Onigiri: mixed into the rice or sprinkled on the outside, as in the Onigiri with tuna and furikake.
• Bowls and soups: over a Poke bowl or a Zosui.
• Outside Japan: on scrambled eggs, avocado toast, popcorn, baked potatoes, salmon before baking or in butter for noodles.

Sprinkle furikake over hot dishes only shortly before eating. If it sits on steaming rice for long, the nori draws moisture and turns chewy.

Furikake, gomashio and shichimi

At an Asian grocery store three sprinkle seasonings often stand side by side. Gomashio is plain sesame salt from toasted black or light sesame and coarse salt, in Japan often over sticky rice with red beans. Shichimi togarashi is a hot blend of chili, sansho pepper, orange peel, sesame and other ingredients that you sprinkle over udon, yakitori and nabe. Furikake tastes rounder than both and brings umami through nori and bonito. You can combine the three: a pinch of shichimi in the furikake gives the rice some heat.

Allergens

Almost every furikake contains sesame. Depending on the type, fish, soy, wheat and egg come on top. Ready-made blends often contain flavor enhancers such as monosodium glutamate, which is in the ingredient list. Read the package carefully if you react to something.

Buying and storing

You find ready-made furikake at an Asian grocery store with a Japanese range and online, in some supermarkets in the Asian aisle. The selection at the Asian grocery store is usually larger. For the homemade version you need good nori and bonito flakes.

Keep dry furikake airtight, cool and dark. Bought, it keeps a few months once opened; mixed yourself, about four weeks. If the sesame smells rancid or the nori turns chewy, mix a new batch.