Inari sushi or oinari-san is a great to go snack or one item to add as part of a bento box.

🥢Ingredients

For Rice:

🔸 1 cup of rice

🔸 1 cup of water

🔸 1 tbsp Japanese sake

🔸 10 cm of konbu (sea kelp)

For Awasezu:

🔸 2 tbsp Japanese Rice Vinegar

🔸 1/2 tsp salt

🔸 1 tbsp sugar

For Abura-agé (fried bean curd):

🔸 1/2 cup dashijiru

🔸 1.5 tbsp shoyu

🔸 3 tbsp sugar

🔸 2 tbsp white sesame seeds

🥄Directions:

RICE

▫️Wash rice. Add water, sake and konbu. Cook rice.

✔️I cook it on the stovetop but you can use a rice cooker. Stovetop directions: cover rice and heat on high until it starts bubbling (the cap will “dance”). Lower the heat and cook for 10 min. Take off heat and let it sit for 10 min. Stir immediately.

▫️While rice is cooking, prep awasezu in a bowl. (Mix all the ingredients for the awasezu together).

✔️ If you don’t like sesame seeds, you can omit them.

▫️Once rice is cooked, take it out in a bowl or flat container to cook down. Add awasezu into the rice by “cutting” rice. See reel. Cool down by fanning it while you “cut” the rice or put aside to cool.

ABURA-AGÉ (fried bean curd)

▫️Cut the abura-agé in half down the middle with a knife.

✔️some are sold as halves (pre-cut) in which case you don’t need to cut them.

▫️Boil water in a shallow pot or pan. Place the abura-agé in it and quickly remove. If you don’t have one, you can boil water in a kettle and pour the hot water over them in a bowl.

✔️this is to take some of the oil off the abura-agé so it won’t be too oily

▫️Drain the abura-agé. Set aside.

▫️Add all the ingredients under abura-agé into a new shallow pan and mix.

✔️you can reuse the one you boiled water in by dumping out the oily water but I find there to be some oils remaining so I use a new clean one.

▫️Add the abura-agé into the pan and let it simmer until all the liquid is gone.

✔️I usually move them around to make sure they’re evenly soaking the liquid because my pan isn’t quite the right size for this.

▫️While it simmers, the rice should have cooled so you can make them into oval shapes (see reel - the rice are on the chopping board in the shapes). This recipe should make 12 total.

✔️ make the rice into shapes makes it easier and the process faster.

✔️ add rice vinegar to your palms to prevent the rice from sticking to your hands. Little goes a long way.

▫️Open the abura-agé gently and place the rice into the pockets.

✔️Do not over stuff or be rough with it or it will tear easily.

✔️Some people squeeze the liquid out of the abura-agé prior to adding the rice but that’s the yummy part! I don’t squeeze. I keep it as is.

🌟Don’t put it in the fridge! The rice will get hard. It’s to be made the morning that you’re eating it (if it’s warmer weather) or cook the abura-agé and keep it covered in the pan over night and the rice in a separate container on the counter over night if it’s cool. Should be eaten the same day. If you’re taking it on the go and it’s not cool outside, add a freezer pack to keep the container cool but not cold (like the fridge).

🌟If you want a video of stuffing it or on rice cooking, let me know!