Perfect for hopping into the new year on planes, in pockets, lunch pails + purses.
I hopped a plane to Los Angeles this week. Only my second flight in two years. Packing took a little longer than I remembered, but I didn’t forget any of the little things I bring to make hotel rooms more comfortable, recalled all of my security hacks, AND I haven’t forgotten how to pack really delicious snacks to make my travel day as easy, delicious and happy as possible. No unfortunate cafe sandwiches, practically empty airport salads, greasy or sloppy meals served too quickly in the terminal here! I made a little batch of these Carrot-Sesame Yaki onigiri (Grilled Japanese Rice Cakes) for the trip and tucked them into my carry-on in a little bento lunchbox. They were a game-changer for me, and I hope they are for you too.
Onigiri, also known as omusubi, are portable snacks, often sold in Japanese convenience stores, which are traditionally stuffed with salty, tangy fillings, then wrapped in seaweed. When grilled, glazed or cooked, they become yaki onigiri. In this recipe, I take a bit of liberty with the technique with respect to shaping and mixing. At its core, however, onigiri is literally taking whatever you have on hand , in season + combining it with rice to make a lovely meal. And that’s precisely what this is.
This is just the type of thing that I like to take with me when I travel – something that doesn’t need temperature control, something simple I can pull together and have on hand for a day or so when things are swirling around. One massive thing that can keep our bodies in balance, performing better all the time, is routine and eating foods we know, that agree with our bodies and digestive systems, at the same times each day are a huge component of balancing.
These little onigiris are great for more than just travel days, though! They’re also something you can tuck into lunch boxes for your little people, or could make for lunch or dinner. AND, they’re perfect to take in your pockets for a ride, hike or adventure. The technique I used here is similar to the one that I learned from Allen Lim when I was the culinary director at Skratch Labs. The only difference here is that to take these cakes on a ride, you’ll want to wrap them in Skratch Paper or your favorite ride-friendly wrap instead of onigiri.
One word of culinary caution, however: rice cakes really are best, and most digestible, when you eat them within 24 hours of cooking them. After that, the rice starts to lose moisture and digestibility. You may not notice a difference if you’re eating them as a meal, but if you’re taking them on a ride, you will because the moisture content will drop. For optimal absorption, assimilation and digestion, we want our endurance foods to have a 20% moisture content…when they fall below this, then you need to drink much more water to digest your food, and this can impact your hydration strategy, your dehydration rate and more. Make a batch, eat them up within 24 hours, and make some more!
There’s a great story about me, bonked out of my mind, 75 miles into a 135-mile bike ride, walking into a convenience store on the side of the road on a Japanese island with a few measly yen, discovering onigiri (rice cakes) and a side of myself I never knew existed. It’s a bit of a long story, and one that I’ll tell you in great depth in due time, but this week what you really need to know is that rice is INCREDIBLE. Practically a superfood. For athletes, for everyone. And that it’s one of the least expensive, most overlooked and also misunderstood ingredients out there.
One of the most simple foods for us to digest, rice is an incredible source of complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and sweet soothing energetics that our bodies in motion need. Ayurveda teaches us that when things get rough, we need to balance them out with smooth, easy foods and practices. When things get complicated, we get back to baseline faster if we make our foods and our lives easier. And this is where rice can be a great tool. When travel kicks up, my projects in the kitchen or in life get crammed in, when my mind gets busy or when I’m asking a lot of my body, rice is what I turn to. I rinse a batch in the rice cooker, hit the “cook” button and let this happy little machine (that sings to you when it starts cooking, AND when it finishes btw) do the work for me. About 30 minutes later, I have a primary component for making rice bowls, eating with eggs, tossing into salads, or making onigiri just like this. I think I eat rice at least once a day, and I try to make myself a rice bowl, or some kind of rice meal, each time I travel….because the roughest type of day there is, these days, is probably a travel day.
It wasn’t until I really dove deeply into Ayurveda a few years ago that I recognized just how hellish air travel is on our bodies. And to understand it, we have to start at the beginning of understanding how we are — as natural beings.
Whatever you believe about how humans landed on earth, we can all agree that the thing that created all other life in nature also created us. There was some design – for example The Powers That Be gave some animals fins, others feet, and some wings. We did not get wings.
We are earth-bound creatures and incredibly adept learners, and we have created the opportunity for ourselves to fly (and swim, and more.) But we also created methamphetamines so just because we created it doesn’t mean it’s “natural” or “good.”
Air travel requires us to put our earth-bound human bodies into a chamber, pumped full of recycled air, at elevations that are much more drying than we’re used to on the ground. We’re moving at speeds that are far faster than nature designed for us. And really all of this is an overdose of air, wind, and motion. In Ayurveda, all of these things are governed by the Vata dosha – the wind element. Our earth-bound tendencies, our static, stoic, enduring qualities are governed by Kapha dosha – the earth element. And, all of our firey, passionate, hot tendencies — and ANYTHING we encounter in our lives that are a little too “hot to handle” is governed by pitta dosha — the fire element. Just like with a fire burning in a fireplace, too much air or wind will engulf the flames of our bodies. It makes us cold, dry, and agitated. In our bodies, this shows up as dry skin, noise in our brains, antsiness in our bodies, and typically constipation and digestive distress. If, when you fly across the ocean you find that the first few days are difficult for your gut, it’s not that you’re having a hard time with the local wine, pasta or cheese. It’s that there is an accumulation of Vata dosha in your being from all of the lists created to get ready for your trip, all of the things you were thinking about and doing to get yourself on the plane, and then flying for many many hours at top speeds.
The best way to return your digestion to its happy place? The best way to get your body back on balance after a big travel day? Kick your shoes off. Put your toes in the grass, the sand, on the earth. Take some deep breaths. Close your computer and your phone. Turn off the music. All of these things overload the vata dosha in our bodies too. Then have yourself a little bowl of rice.
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