Chakinzushi

What is Chakin-zushi?

Chakinzushi

Chakinzushi (茶巾寿司・茶巾寿し・ちゃきん寿司・ちゃきんずし) is,

Sushi made by cooking ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, hijiki and lotus root in sweet and spicy soy sauce or mirin, then mixing them into cooked rice to make ‘sushi rice’ or ‘Go-moku vinegared rice’, which is then wrapped in a ‘thinly fried egg’.

It is said to have originated in the Taisho era (1912-1926) as a creative sushi dish devised by Yoshitaro Obara, a cook in the Fushimi Palace family, for serving at tea ceremonies.

Today, there are many variations in the ingredients used for the sushi rice and the way it is wrapped (in terms of appearance), depending on the creator, and some are decorated with shrimp, crab, salmon roe, scallops, etc.

Chakin-zushi is made by wrapping Go-moku vinegared rice with a thinly fried egg, shaping it and then tying it with Mitsuba, Kanpyo (dried gourd), Kombu (kelp) or other ingredients.