# Gomoku Inarizushi ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Gomoku Inarizushi

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
Entire prefecture

## Main Ingredients Used
Fried tofu pouches, rice, carrot, burdock root, shiitake mushroom

## History, Origin, and Related Events
Agriculture has been practiced since ancient times in Ibaraki prefecture to take advantage of the year-round temperate climate and good water quality. Living up to its reputation as an "Agricultural Prefecture," Ibaraki boasts the top-class production in Japan of numerous vegetables including napa cabbage, lotus root, green bell pepper, and produces all kinds of ingredients ranging from vegetables to meat. "Gomoku Inarizushi" has been well-known for many years as a regional cuisine that features local agricultural products.Kasama City is home to Kasama Inari Shrine, one of the three major Inari shrines in Japan, where citizens and pilgrims have been offering "Gomoku Inarizushi" since long ago. Even today, the town is livened up by this practice. "Kasama Inarizushi" is known for using a wide range of ingredients such as carrot, burdock root, and shiitake mushroom that are often included in "Gomoku" (five ingredients), as well as locally produced soba (buckwheat noodles), chestnut, and maitake mushroom. The Inarizushi made with colorful ingredients has a beautiful appearance.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
It is eaten in many different situations throughout the year. It is popular not only with adults but with children as well.

## How to Eat
Oil is removed from the fried tofu, then it is simmered with seasonings such as sugar, mirin, and soy sauce until the flavor is absorbed. Ingredients such as carrot, burdock root, and shiitake mushroom are cut into thin strips to make them easier to eat, then stir-fried, seasoned, and mixed evenly with the rice. The rice that has been mixed thoroughly with the ingredients is stuffed into the fried tofu pouches, then placed on a plate with the open side facing up so that the filling is visible. There are an endless amount of variations, such as mixing in glutinous rice to make it more of a sticky rice, or featuring seasonal flavors by adding edamame in the summer and gingko nuts in the winter. Ibaraki prefecture is also known as the production area of "Hitachi Aki-Soba," a trademarked soba variety that has garnered high praise from soba artisans around the country, so variations using soba are also popular.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
(Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)A community revitalization group called "Kasama Inarizushi Inakichikai" was established in Kasama City to share the charms of Kasama Inarizushi through events such as Kasama Inarizushi workshops, Kasama Hatsu-uma Inarizushi Festival, and Inarizushi contests.

## Ingredients
- Fried tofu pouch: 200g
- [A] Sugar: 3 tablespoons
- [A] Mirin: 1 teaspoon
- [A] Soy sauce: 3 teaspoons
- [A] Dashi stock: 2 cups
- Maitake mushroom: 80g
- Shiitake mushroom: 80g
- Carrot: 80g
- Burdock root: 80g
- Edamame: 80g
- Green beans: 40g
- Shirataki noodles: 80g
- Oil: 1 tablespoon
- [B] Soy sauce: 2 tablespoons
- [B] Sugar: 1 tablespoon
- [B] Sake: 2 tablespoons
- Rice: 320g

## Recipe
1. 1. Cut the fried tofu pouches into two pieces, blanch to remove the oil, then simmer with the [A] seasonings.
2. 2. Cut the carrots and burdock root into this strips, and soak the burdock root in water to remove the bitterness. Cut the shirataki noodles into 3-4 cm lengths, and cut the shiitake mushroom into thin strips.
3. 3. Heat the oil in a pan, stir-fry the ingredients from step 2, tear the maitake mushrooms by hand and add them into the pan, and season with the [B] seasonings.
4. 4. Add the ingredients from step 3 into regular cooked rice, and mix until evenly incorporated.
5. 5. Boil green beans and cut into thin strips. Firmly stuff the mixture from step 4 into the fried tofu pouches from step 1, fold down the edge of the fried tofu to shape, then top with white sesame seeds and thinly sliced green beans.

## Provider Information
provider : "A Taste of Ibaraki: A Menu of Local Dishes, Shoku, Sai, Hyakkei” (Support from Ibaraki Prefectural Dietary Life Improvement Promotion Council

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