You’ve seen the Snackadium, the pizza with a pepperoni football, the zillion layer dip, but come Sunday you might want a more literal football food — inari, the sushi we’ve always called “footballs.” The basic inarizushi is simply filled with seasoned white sticky rice, a fancier version might add some shredded teriyaki chicken and carrots, and this one, I went full-on, stuffing it with bacon and char siu fried rice.
You want the rice sticky. Stickier than you see here, so use a freshly steamed batch of rice, rather than leftovers, for making your fried rice. I filled these all the way, but you can hand form nice little rice rectangles, as if you were making sushi, and fold over the edges of the skins for a more football-like presentation. Footballs are best at room temp, despite the warnings about leaving cooked rice out. A batch of fried rice might sit out on the stove for a few hours, so anyone walking through the kitchen could grab a scoop. In 30 years, no one was ever sick, so take that as you will. You’ve been warned (and not warned).
UN-RECIPE: Grandma’s Fried Rice
So where do you get the actual football skins — the inari age? They’ll be in both the refrigerated and dry goods sections of your Asian or Japanese market. I prefer the refrigerated version above over the canned — they seem to stick together less and are easier to stuff. The skins are a little bit sweet and the refrigerated version comes with a dried vinegar powder packet to sprinkle over your hot rice, if you’re just making the basic. Other brands, including the ones you see your supermarket sushi bar, are usually lighter in color, so it’s worth seeking out the Shirakiku brand if you can find it.
Go Hawks!
