Oshinuki-Zushi (Kagawa Pressed Sushi with Spring Toppings)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 150 min
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 12 servings
- Ingredients
- 21
About this dish
Oshinuki-zushi is a spring pressed sushi from Kagawa.
Read more
A mold is half-filled with seasoned rice, layered with separately simmered fuki, shiitake, broad beans, and frozen tofu, covered with more rice, and pressed. Thin omelet, Spanish mackerel chilled in salt and vinegar, and bright beans are arranged on top before the piece is unmolded and finished with a bruised sansho leaf. Each cooked filling is reduced until little liquid remains so the rice keeps its shape. From late April through June, Sanuki farming families prepared this sushi when mackerel entered the Seto Inland Sea and broad beans ripened. It became the centerpiece of the Haruio spring gathering, when relatives shared fish, food, and sake. Sushi carried between a bride's family and her married household also helped maintain family ties.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Season
Rinse the rice and cook it with the water specified for 5 cups by your rice cooker.
Stir the sushi vinegar, sushi sugar, and sushi salt until dissolved. Sprinkle over the hot rice, fold with cutting motions, and let the steam subside.
- 2Control
Roll the fuki on a board with 1 teaspoon of the combined seasoning salt, blanch, peel away the outer fibers, and slice crosswise.
Simmer with 45 ml dashi, 2 tablespoons sake, 1 tablespoon filling sugar, and 0.5 teaspoon seasoning salt until nearly dry.
- 3Control
Soak the dried shiitake until fully rehydrated and strain 120 ml of the soaking liquid through a fine sieve.
Slice the mushrooms and simmer with the liquid, 1 tablespoon filling sugar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon mirin until glossy and nearly dry.
- 4Control
Beat the egg with 0.25 teaspoon of the combined seasoning salt.
Lightly oil a skillet over medium-low heat, spread the egg in a thin layer, cook both sides fully, and cut it to fit the top of the molds.
- 5Season
Coat the raw-consumption-grade mackerel evenly with 1 tablespoon curing salt and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Pat dry, immerse in 120 ml curing vinegar, and refrigerate for about 1 more hour. Drain, pat dry again, and slice to fit the molds.
- 6Season
Boil the broad beans in salted water until tender.
Briefly turn them in a small amount of water seasoned with 1 teaspoon filling sugar and a pinch of the combined salt, then let them cool completely.
- 7Control
Rehydrate the frozen tofu in lukewarm water, rinse, press out the water, and cut small.
Simmer with the remaining 240 ml dashi, 2 tablespoons filling sugar, 0.5 teaspoon seasoning salt, the remaining 1.5 teaspoons sake, and 0.5 teaspoon light soy until nearly dry, then cool.
- 8Control
Line each press mold with a leaf or food-safe sheet and fill halfway with sushi rice.
Add cooled fuki, shiitake, some broad beans, and frozen tofu, then cover with more rice. Arrange omelet, vinegar-cured mackerel, and the remaining beans, press firmly, and unmold. Lightly bruise each sansho leaf between your palms and place one on top.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Simmered fuki, shiitake, broad beans, and frozen tofu form a layer inside the sushi rice.
- Finish cue
- Boil the broad beans in salted water until tender.
- Avoid this
- Warm or wet fillings make the rice soggy and also raise the temperature of the chilled fish.
- Storage and reheating
- Coat the raw-consumption-grade mackerel evenly with 1 tablespoon curing salt and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official food safety guidance.
This recipe
150min, 21 ingredients
Category median
38.5min, 8 ingredients
Based on 214 recipes
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