EAT: Inari with Winter Greens

Inari is most commonly found with only rice as stuffing. A few longer preparations include soaked shitake mushrooms and other more lengthy processes. So to lighten up a fairly stodgy food, and make it quick to fix for a lunchbox we have added fresh seasonal herbs and greens including salad burnet, coriander and red chard (from a rainbow chard mix). Coupled with sesame seeds and pickled ginger.

Note: many Japanese condiments & preparations contain MSG, please read the label to ensure you are getting a Gluten Free variation if needed.

Ingredients:

a few salad burnet leaves

a few coriander leaf

a few small tender leaves of chard/spinach/silverbeet

1 teaspoon sesame seeds (raw)

10 pack of inari (aburage - fermented/fried bean curd pockets) - common brand has additives (e.g. 621)

2 tblespoon mirin seasoning (msg free brand)

slithers of pickled ginger

1 cup of cooked rice (leftover short grain or sushi rice)

Method:

Mix mirin seasoning through cold rice.

Split inari skins to form a pocket, scoop a tablespoon of rice into pocket, press into form.

Lay your greens, pickles and sesame seeds onto pressed rice

Take a small amount of rice and press onto top of greens (ensure you leave enough skin to fold closed the pocket.

Fold inari skin over to close the pocket.

Done !

Serve with a soy sauce and your favorite pickled or fermented veg to suppliment to a meal size serve.

Make your own gluten free aburage (aka Inari skins) via: http://www.ehow.com/how_7355258_make-inari-pouches.html

(Salad Burnet leaves are productive throughout Winter in Northern Tasmania tolerating temperatures at our farm to -6oC to date ).