Cone Sushi (Inari Sushi)

Cone Sushi is a Japanese dish of seasoned rice stuffed into fried tofu pouches. Super delicious. A little sweet, a little savory. It's a crowd pleaser, and great for potlucks and picnics. You can buy cone sushi at okazuyas and bento shops...and make it at home! This dish is called Inari Sushi everywhere else in the world, but in Hawaii we call it Cone Sushi ^_^

Everyone loves cone sushi! It's so tasty and very popular in Hawaii.

We season rice with sushi vinegar and diced carrots, and then stuffed it into braised tofu pouches. It's sweet and savory, and you can never eat just one.

We grew up buying cone sushi from Fukuya (the ultimate okazuya), popular bento shops around the island, and Kozo Sushi. We also had homemade cone sushi at soccer games and birthday parties.

Cone sushi is good for parties and groups because it is mean to be eaten at room temperature. Cone Sushi also happens to be vegetarian.

This recipe is not hard, but it has many steps. Patience and a delicate hand (so that you don't tear the tofu pouch wrappers when stuffing it with rice) is key. If you're not in a rush, you could even call the process mediative haha.

Why Is It Called Cone Sushi?

Because the sushi was originally shaped like a cone or triangle!

Back in the 80s and 90s, many Hawaii supermarkets sold square shape fried tofu pouches. You cut them in half diagonally to make two triangle pockets, then braise the tofu pouches in a dashi and soy sauce broth.

And after stuffing the tofu pouches with seasoned rice, you could stand them up like cones. Hence the name cone sushi!

The square shape pouches are not so easy to find nowadays. Supermarkets usually sell rectangular pouches...so now we have rectangle shaped cone sushi.

But the name cone sushi stuck. Regardless of the shape, this dish will always be known as cone sushi in Hawaii ^_^

Where To Buy Tofu Pouches / Age / Fried Bean Curd Wrappers?

Fried tofu pouches go by name different names:

• Fried Tofu Pouches
• Age
• Fried Bean Curd Wrappers

It's all the same thing.

You can get this a Japanese supermarket. You might also find them at Chinese and Korean supermarkets, but Japanese supermarkets is a guarantee. This is after all, a Japanese dish that got Hawaii-ized.

When it comes to plain pouches / wrappers, there are several options at the Japanese supermarket:

There are big beautiful triangles made by Aloha Tofu Factory - I like to use these for making inari age / braised aburaage (which is a very similar recipe to this one, I just didn't stuff it with the seasoned rice).

You can sometimes find large squares which you can cut in half to make the triangles (this is actually my first choice and the one we used most growing up, but it seems most places don't sell it anymore)

The one I most often see is the one we use in this post. Long rectangles that come 5 pieces to a pack. Cut each rectangle in half so that you have 10 pouches. You'll need 2 packs (which turns into 20 pouches) for this recipe.

20 pouches sound like a lot? You can freeze them after you prepare them. Then you'll always have seasoned tofu pouches ready to go! It's good with everything. Serve it as an udon topping to make kitsune udon. Place a couple pieces on a hot bowl of rice for a quick and easy dinner. So many ways to enjoy it.

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need:

Sushi Vinegar

• Rice vinegar
• Sugar
• Lime juice
• Salt

The Rice

• Uncooked Japanese short grain rice - If you have already cooked rice available, you can use that (make sure to adjust the measurements accordingly). If the rice is cold/refrigerated, reheat the rice before using.
• Sushi vinegar - As prepared above.
• Carrot
• Salt
• Sugar

Tofu Pouches / Age / Fried Bean Curd Wrappers

• Tofu Pouches / Age / Fried Bean Curd Wrappers (pictured in the sections above) - This goes by many names!
• Water
• Soy sauce
• Sugar
• Dashi powder (hondashi)

Instructions

Let's get cooking!

First, make the sushi vinegar:

Combine all the ingredients for the rice vinegar in a bowl. Mix together until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.

Then cook just the rice in the rice cooker. (If you're using already cooked rice, skip this step.)

While the rice is cooking, prepare the tofu pouches:

Most tofu pouches / age / fried bean curd wrappers do not come precut into triangle or square pouches. Cut them in half to make 20 small pouches.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Add all the tofu pouches to the water and let cook for about 5-10 minutes. Then drain and cool.

Then gently (VERY gently) squeeze out the excess liquid. The purpose of this step is to remove the cooking oil from the tofu pouches.

While the tofu pouches are cooking, start preparing the rice filling.

In a small pan, stir fry the finely diced carrots for a few minutes until they are a little soft. Set aside and let cool.

Mix the cooked rice with carrots, sushi vinegar, sugar, and salt. Use a rice paddle to mix everything. Set aside.

Once the tofu pouches are done cooking, carefully remove each piece from the pot. Place them onto a plate and let cool.

Now we stuff the tofu pouches with the rice filling:

Carefully open one tofu pouch. Be very careful, they break easily. Use a spoon to gently stuff each pouch with the rice filling. Use the spoon to press the rice down so that it's lightly packed. You don't want to smash the rice, but you also don't want the rice so loose that it doesn't hold shape.

How much to fill the pouch? Two options:

1. Fill all the way up to the top of the pouch and leave the rice exposed.
2. Or fill ¾ of the way and fold the excess pouch / tofu over.

I prefer Option #2. This way you get more tofu pouch and less rice...so you can eat more ^_^

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Top Tip

This recipes calls for 20 pieces of Tofu Pouches / Age / Fried Bean Curd Wrappers. Depending how much rice you use to stuff each pouch, you may have extra pouches left.

That's ok! It's actually good. I like to budget extra tofu pouches because:

1) The pouches often break because they are delicate, especially after cooking them.

2) They're delicious and it feels so decadent and wonderful to snack on a single unfilled tofu pouch while preparing the dish. The cook's treat! I also like to "sample" an unfilled tofu pouch so I can confirm that it soaked up all the sauce/marinade well.

FAQ

Cone Sushi Recipe