I made some Inari Sushi (sushi rice in fried-tofu pouch) to take to a dinner party at a friend's house.
I got the nice homemade abura-age (pressed fried tofu) from Meiji Tofu. After slicing one side of each abura-age to open up to make it a pouch, I simmered them in a broth which contains dashi stock, sake, soy sauce, sugar and mirin with the drop-lid (otoshibuta) on. It's a slow simmer for about 30 minutes or longer until the broth is reduced down and abura age soaks up most of it.
While cooling down the cooked abura-age, I made the sushi rice with Kamado-san (double-lid donabe rice cooker). I cooked the rice with a packet of multi grains, so that it's not only pretty visually but also the mixture is more nutritious. The cooked rice was quickly seasoned with brown rice vinegar-sugar-salt mixture. Then, at the end, I mixed in the sauteed daikon leaves.
Stuffing each abura-age with the rice is as tricky as making each abura-age into a pouch at the beginning of the process. The tofu skin is very delicate, so you need to be very careful not to break it.
After the careful preparation...20 inari sushi are ready! I posted the full recipe on toiro's website.
