Inari

I love inari, with its sweet and salty and sour tastes all at once. Yum! And it's coming to work with me for the kick-off potluck for our work wellness program (I'm on the wellness committee - yippie). I have to write up the recipe for that, so I thought I'd post it here, too.

Inari is super-easy to make, and if you already have cooked the rice or have a rice cooker, the actual working time is about 10-15 minutes, depending on how gentle you need to be with your tofu pockets.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked warm medium grain rice*
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup shredded carrots, lightly steamed
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 can aburage**

Directions

1. Mix together everything but the aburage and let sit to cool and blend.
2. Gently rinse*** the aburage. Squeeze gently and place on kitchen towel to dry.
3. When the rice has cooled, gently pry open a peice of aburage and stuff it - gently! - about half full of the rice mixture. Fold in one long side, fold in the ends, then fold over the other long side. Place seam down on plate. Repeat with other peices of aburage.

Serves four. Serve immediately or no more than 24 hours later for best taste. Make it for dinner then have leftovers the next day for lunch - yum!

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*White is traditional, but I like it with a mixture of white and brown.
**See the photo at the top of the post for what a can is likely to look like.
***Not stictly required for canned aburage, but it's a little slippery to work with, otherwise.

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