Stuffed sushi pockets with a show-off personality

As summer wanes and yields to autumn, shinmai (new rice) comes to market.

Prized for its slightly sweet, nutty flavor and pleasantly chewy texture, shinmai appears on tables and in lunchboxes in many guises. One of the dishes I like to make with it is inari-zushi — fried tofu simmered in shoyu and stuffed with sushi rice.

Japan’s culinary culture is filled with references to foxes and their fondness for abura age (fried tofu). And because fox figures guard the entrance to Inari shrines dedicated to rice cultivation, inari-zushi likely acquired its name by association.