Surprisingly juicy and tasty, Simmered Stuffed Aburaage is a perfect dish to go with rice. It looks like Inarizushi, but the aburaage pouches are stuffed with pork mince. Thinly sliced lotus roots and shiitake pieces beneath the aburaage pouches add different textures to the dish.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 5 sheets aburaage
- 80g/2.8oz lotus root
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms (rehydrated, medium size, note 1)
- 1½ tbsp oil
- 200g/7.1oz pork mince
- 2 tbsp dried shiitake mushrooms rehydrated and finely diced (note 1)
- 2 tbsp carrot finely diced into 3mm2 /⅛in2 cubes
- 2 tbsp green onions finely chopped
- ½ tbsp ginger juice (squeezed from grated ginger)
- ½ tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cooking sake
- 1 tbsp corn flour/cornstarch
- 1 cup/250ml/8.5fl oz dashi stock
- 1/5 cup/50ml /1.7fl oz shiitake dashi (from rehydrating the dried shiitake mushrooms)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Curled julienned green onions (note 2)
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Slice the lotus root about 3mm/⅛" thick, then quarter each slice. If the diameter of your lotus root is small, halve it.
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Remove the stem of shiitake mushrooms and quarter them. If your mushrooms are small, halve them.
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Place 5 sheets of aburaage in a bowl/pot and add boiling water. Jiggle and drain. Let them cool down.
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Cut each aburaage in the middle crosswise to make two square pieces. You will make 10 pieces.
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Take 2-3 pieces of aburaage at a time, spread them on your palm, and stack them up. Place the other hand over the aburaage and press to squeeze the water out of them. This way, you won't break the delicate aburaage pouches.
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Open each aburaage from the cut side, by gently detaching the tofu stack inside and make a pouch. Ensue the tofu at the bottom corners of the pouch are also detached.
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Put carrot, shiitake mushrooms, green onions, and corn flour into a bowl and mix well.
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Add the rest of the Filling ingredients to the bowl and mix well until the vegetables are evenly spread in the mince and the mince mixture becomes sticky.
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Divide the filling into 10 equal portions.
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Taking one aburaage pouch at a time, put one portion of the filling inside the pouch. Press the filling down to fill the corners. The filling should come up to around half of the pouch. Fold the opening to close the pouch (note 3).
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Heat the oil in a frying pan large enough to place 10 pouches without overlapping, over high heat.
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Put the lotus roots and shiitake mushrooms into the pan and sauté for 1-2 minutes, turning over the vegetables.
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Place the aburaage pouches, folded side up, on top of the vegetables radially. (note 4).
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Add all the Simmering Broth ingredients to the pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes with a lid on.
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Remove the lid, turn the pouches over and cook for further 2 minutes or so, without the lid, until a small amount of liquid is left (note 5). Turn the heat off.
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Slide the contents in the pan, including the broth, onto a serving plate maintaining the position of the pouches (note 6).
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Put the julienned green onions in the middle and serve.
1. I used 5 dried mushrooms in total. They were medium sized when rehydrated, and 2 of them were finely diced for stuffing.
If your mushrooms are very small, you need to increase the number of mushrooms.
2. To make them decorative, diagonally slice green onions very finely, with a sharp angle so that each strip becomes long (more than 5cm/2” long). Then put the julienned green onions in cold water to curl up. It is similar to making shirahga negi but slightly easier to make.
3. If you are worried about the folded end opening while cooking, you can put through a toothpick, as if you are sewing, to secure the end. See the sample photo in the post. But don't forget to remove the toothpick when serving!
4. I placed the pouches radially hoping to slide the cooked dish from the pan to a large plate, maintaining the presentation. If you prefer not to place the pouches this way, that’s OK too.
5. If the evaporation is too fast, reduce the heat to slow it down. You may also need to add a small amount of water to keep cooking.
6. If it is too hard to slide the dish onto a plate without messing up, put the pouches on one side of the pan and transfer the vegetables to a serving plate, then place the pouches on top of the vegetables.
7. Nutrition per pouch. 1/10 of the vegetables and broth is included.
serving: 102g calories: 181kcal fat: 14g (18%) saturated fat: 3g (15%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 3.5g monounsaturated fat: 6.6g cholesterol: 15mg (5%) sodium: 274mg (12%) carbohydrates: 7g (3%) dietary fibre: 1.1g (4%) sugar: 1.7g protein: 7.7g vitamin D: 0mcg (1%) calcium: 89mg (7%) iron: 1.0mg (6%) potassium: 247mg (5%)