Inari Sushi Recipe

How to make Inari Sushi using my 80 year old Mother's Inari Sushi recipe 

Ingredients

You should be able to find inarizushi-no-moto (below in can) at your local Japanese store or sometimes in your local grocery store. It will be cheaper if you can find it there. If not, then you can order them from Amazon below. 

Sushi Rice (for variety mix one or a combination of the following into the sushi rice to stuff in the inari bag: black or white sesame seeds, seasoned shitake mushrooms (chopped up), seasoned kampyo (chopped up), pickled ginger slivers, umeboshi (pickled plums (chopped up) )

1 can  Inarizushi-no-moto (seasoned) or 1 package aburage (unseasoned)

1 cup traditional homemade dashi (or 1 cup of boiling water + 1 tsp instant dashi powder if you don't have homemade dashi made from katsuobushi)

3 Tbsp sugar 

1 1/2 Tbsp Sake (or 3 Tbsp Sake if you have no Mirin)

1 1/2 Tbsp Mirin (or 3 Tbsp Mirin if you have no Sake)

3 Tbsp soy sauce

Preparation

You can buy Inarizushi-no-moto (fried bean curd) bags already seasoned (see pictures above).

Or if you can buy abura age unseasoned (lighter, larger bags on the bottom compared to darker seasoned ones from a can above), then you will have to prepare it properly first before using it.

Either way, my mother always cooked the already prepared fried bean curd bags (that usually come in a can) so if you follow this recipe, you'll be cooking the abura age no matter which version you buy.

And although you can eat the prepared bags right out of the can and they do taste fine, they don't taste as good as if they are "recooked" in your own sauce base. To me, they taste like they have a can taste so I always recook them.

But buying them in a can is cheaper as you can get around 16 bags (although smaller) instead of the 4 you get when you buy the unprepared abura age for almost the same price.

You can pick up abura age (unseasoned) in the refrigerated section of any Japanese or some oriental grocery stores. You can sometimes find them online too, but I wasn't able to when I put up this recipe so I have no link for that.

Preparing unseasoned Abura Age for cooking using this Inari Sushi Recipe

1. First, lay the Abura age (unseasoned only) on the counter or cutting board and cover it with plastic wrap or put it in a plastic bag (like in the picture above).

2. Take a rolling pin or use a can and roll over the Aburage a few times. This will make it easier to open the pocket later. Remove the saran wrap or remove from plastic bag.

3. Next, cut the square in half or at a diagonal, depending on which you prefer.

4. Boil the pouches in water for about 2 minutes to remove excess oil. Remove the pouches from the water and drain the water from the pot.

Cooking the Abura age or already prepared Inarizushi-no-moto

5. Combine the dashi, sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce in a pot. Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer. 

6. If you are cooking unseasoned abura age then simmer them for 12-15 minutes. If you are recooking the seasoned bags from a can then cook them for 7 to 8 minutes.

Put a small sheet of aluminum foil (with a few holes poked in it) shaped to fit inside the pot so that it rests on the liquid to keep pouches submerged while cooking.

Keep flipping them over and pushing them down if not using the foil suggestion to keep them down.

7. Remove the pouches from the pot and allow to cool before stuffing.

8. Carefully open the pocket of the inarizushi bag. 

8. Dip fingers in Inari seasoning juice (cooled and in your pot), tap them on a moist towel to remove the excess and pick up a small handful of sushi rice, about the size of a golf ball.

9. Carefully stuff the rice into the Inari sushi pouch. Press down into the bag adding additional sushi rice until stuffed full.

10. Seasoned tofu pouches can be kept in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and can be frozen for later use.

And there you have it. The very best and tastiest inari sushi recipe on the planet earth.

Enjoy!