Inari-Zushi: Japan's Beloved Sushi

When you hear the word "sushi," you probably think of "maki" rolls, or "nigiri," which is one of the most traditional types of sushi, consisting of fresh fish or vegetables draped over small blocks of seasoned sushi rice. But have you ever heard of "inari-zushi"?
Inari-zushi is made by taking thinly cut fried tofu known as "abura-agé," seasoning it to make it sweet and salty, and then filling it with sushi rice. It's such a familiar food that Japanese people affectionately call it "o-inari-san."

The "inari" part of the name comes from "Inari-jinja" — Japanese shrines dedicated to the god of food and farming. Japanese people would offer abura-agé at Inari shrines as they prayed for a good harvest. People began to fill the abura-agé with rice, and inari-zushi was born. That's why it's traditionally made for festivals celebrating the harvest.

Easy to Carry and Eat with Your Hands

Inari-zushi is often eaten at special events such as school field trips, sports days, and when viewing the cherry blossoms in spring. It's also commonly included in sushi sets together with "maki-zushi," a type of sushi where the cooked rice and filling are rolled up. Both maki-zushi and inari-zushi are easy to carry around, and inari-zushi can be eaten with your hands, making it the perfect food for outings and events. Of course, they are also used in everyday lunches, as well.

No cherry-blossom viewing party is complete without inari-zushi or maki-zushi. It's a Japanese tradition to eat under cherry trees when the blossoms are in full bloom.

What's unique about inari-zushi is that the abura-agé is used as a sort of pocket for the filling.
When the abura-agé, which is made from thinly cut pieces of tofu, is fried, it turns into something like a soft batter with air in the middle. This is then cut and opened up by hand to make a pocket. The pocket can then be filled with sushi rice and other fillings.

Abura-agé can be enjoyed in lots of different ways. It can be added to miso soup, it can be boiled and seasoned and eaten with noodles, it can be wrapped around mochi, or it can be used in winter dishes like "nabé" and "oden." Thick-cut fried tofu is called "atsuagé."

A Variety of Arrangements of Presentations

Basic inari-zushi is filled with white rice that has been seasoned with vinegar, but it's not unusual to come across inari-zushi where the rice has been mixed with other ingredients as well. These ingredients might include mixed vegetables or mushrooms, hijiki seaweed, chicken, mixed greens, pickled ginger or sesame seeds.
More recently, flavors such as salmon, shrimp, salmon eggs, beef and cheese have started to appear, as well as Western- and Chinese- inspired variations. When you look up inari-zushi on recipe websites, there are even some that are filled with pilau or fried rice, Thai rice with stir-fried basil or pork and red bell pepper, and gapao rice. Some people even fill the abura-agé with noodles instead of rice. There really is a limitless number of variations!

You can fill them, you can decorate them... Inari-zushi is a craft in its own right. Think about all the kinds of inari-zushi that you would make!

Once they're nicely plated up, they just have to be shown off!

Japan's Many Rice-Based Foods and Dishes

For most sushi, like "nigiri-zushi," the proportion of rice to toppings like salmon and shrimp is about half-and-half, but for inari-zushi, rice is the star of the show, making up a much bigger proportion of the filling.
Rice is one of the most important foods in the Japanese diet. Not only is rice a staple food by itself, but it's also used to make seasonings and other foods that are often found on Japanese dining tables.
It's a well-known fact that rice is used to make Japanese saké, but it's also used to make sushi vinegar, as well as mirin (sweet rice wine), which is used to add luster and depth of flavor to simmered and grilled foods. There are a wide variety of uses for rice. Even the rice bran that comes off rice when it is milled is used to make "nukadoko," a key ingredient in Japanese pickle-making, and toasted rice is added to green tea to make fragrant "genmaicha." "Senbei" crackers, a type of snack that is popular in Japan, are also made from rice, and more recently, rice flour has been used as an ingredient in breads and desserts as well.

The reason that rice is used so widely is most likely due to its mild flavor.
There are plenty of ways to enjoy inari-zushi too. It all depends on your creativity. Seasonal ingredients can be used to capture the essence of the season. Substituting vinegar for lemon in the rice gives it the perfect summer taste, while carrots can be cut into leaf shapes and added for decoration in the fall. Part of inari-zushi's appeal is how easily it can be changed to suit the seasons. It can also be made vegan-friendly by using only plant-based ingredients.
It's even easier to make inari-zushi using inari-agé, which is a type of pre-seasoned abura-agé that you can buy in stores. You can also mix the sushi rice and other ingredients together in a bowl to make a colorful Japanese party food called "chirashi-zushi."