Unohana Kizushi (Vinegared Sardines with Okara)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 55 min
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 5 servings
- Ingredients
- 9
About this dish
Instead of rice, this sushi from the Kitaura coast of Yamaguchi uses okara, the soybean pulp left from tofu making, dry-toasted until loose and seasoned with vinegar, sugar, ginger, hemp seeds, and black sesame.
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Salted, vinegar-firmed sardine fillets wrap around small drums of the cooled okara. It grew out of coastal communities where rice was hard to farm, and it was made for New Year, weddings, and local festivals. Each piece pairs crumbly, nutty okara with rich fish and a clean sweet-sour finish.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Keep the sardines cold while removing the heads and innards.
Fillet them, remove the fine bones, sprinkle both sides evenly with the curing salt, and refrigerate until the flesh firms.
- 2
Rinse the salt from the sardines with 60 ml of the vinegar and press gently to remove moisture without breaking the flesh.
Dissolve 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt in 80 ml vinegar, submerge the sardines, and keep refrigerated.
- 3
Dry-toast the fresh okara in a pan over medium-low heat, stirring until excess moisture evaporates and the grains become loose.
Mix in the remaining 40 ml vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt.
- 4
Finely chop the ginger.
Stir it into the toasted okara with the hemp seeds and two-thirds of the black sesame, then cool completely until the mixture can be handled and shaped.
- 5
Remove the sardines from the sweet vinegar, drain them, and keep them chilled.
Divide the okara into 10 portions, press each into a small drum shape, and wrap one sardine fillet around each portion.
- 6
Arrange two pieces per serving and sprinkle with the reserved black sesame.
Keep the finished kizushi chilled and serve promptly rather than holding it for an extended period.
References checked
These references were consulted when this page was prepared or corrected. A source check does not mean the recipe was independently kitchen-tested.
- 일본 농림수산성 うちの郷土料理
萩元気食の会 · Checked: 2026-08-11
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