Inari Sushi

Inari sushi or sushi in seasoned deep-fried tofu pockets has always been my must-have sushi while dining in a Japanese restaurant. It's simple yet flavourful 😋 You can control the salt and sugar content of the inari age according to your preference - the privilege of home-cooked food 😃

Inari age or seasoned deep-fried tofu pockets are easy to prepare with the use of a Japanese seasoned soya sauce or tsuyu. You save the trouble for having to hunt for dashi and mirin. Yamamori Tsuyu came in a small bottle of 220ml which would not take up a big space in the fridge to store. It can be used in meat dishes that called for soya sauce.

 

Ingredients

115g deep-fried tofu puff, 9 pieces 

300g water

80g Yamamori Tsuyu/seasoned soya sauce

40g raw sugar

Directions

1. Gently roll a rolling pin or a chopstick over a tofu puff to break out the connecting fiber within the puff. This helps to open up the tofu puff later.

2. Push the tofu puffs into a bowl of water, and gently press them to "rinse" out the oil. Change a few times of water till lesser oil can be seen on the water surface. 

Some people prefer to give the tofu puffs a quick boil to remove the oil. However, I think rinsing the tofu puffs in cold water a few times do the same job and save on energy.

Gently squeeze dry the tofu puffs. Set them aside.

3. Bring water, tsuyu/seasoned soya sauce, and raw sugar to a boil.

4. Add the tofu puffs to the sauce pan. Push the tofu puffs to submerge in the sauce. You can use a drop lid to do the job. Otherwise, cover the pot with a lid, and push down the tofu puffs a few times during the course of cooking.

Simmer the tofu puffs for about 20 to 30 minutes, or till the sauce has reduced to about 1 to 2 cm deep.

Let the inari age cool down in the sauce.

5. If you are not making the inari sushi immediately, you can keep them in an air-tight container for up to 3 days in the fridge; or 3 weeks in the freezer.

Sushi Rice for 4 inari

Cook the sushi rice as per the instruction given on the rice packaging.

From my experience, each inari age can take up about 20g of uncooked  sushi rice.

Ingredients

80g sushi rice

115g water

9g sushi rice vinegar

Directions

1. Rinse the short grain sushi rice a few times, and let them soak for about 3 hours. 

2. Drain the rice, and add about 115g of water to cook in a rice cooker. Let the rice simmer in the keep warm mode for about 10 minutes.

3. Add about 9g of sushi vinegar or seasoned vinegar to the hot rice. Toss the rice using a spatula, be careful not to flatten the rice. Transfer the warm rice to a bowl, cover with a lid or towel, and let it cool down to room temperature before use.

Assembling Inari Sushi

1. Lightly squeeze dry the inari age. Cut open one of the longer edges of the inari age, and slowly open up the interior.

2. Shape a rice cake out of the cooled sushi rice and push into the inari age. Fold in the two sides and invert the inari sushi.

Refrigerate and serve cool 😋