Sushi for Beginners

Once upon a time, in what seems like a lifetime ago, I used to hang out with a bunch of foreigners. We spent many evenings and weekends together, drinking, cooking and talking. What we had in common was our foreignness and disdain for the English reserve. What I remember most about those evenings was the cooking. We took turns to cook (mostly native cuisine) and I remember being introduced to some fabulous Thai, French and Asian food. One of the lads once cooked sushi and I was amazed at how simple it looked. Soon I set off to the local Chinese shop to  buy the sushi sudare, nori, wasabi et.al. and set about experimenting.  Making these pretty parcels was so satisfying. Time flew, life happened, differences appeared and foreigners went home. I stayed on, made new friends, found love and grew vegetables. Here's to old times and forgotten inspirations.

Tools and Ingredients:
Sushi sudare (rolling mat)
Sushi nori (seaweed)
Sushi rice-1 cup
Pickled sushi ginger
Japanese mirin (vinegar)
Wasabi paste
Soy sauce
Fillings- this could be a number of things including tuna from a tin, avocado, chicken, spring onions etc. This time I used mostly smoked salmon and finely chopped courgette and roast squash

Method: Cook the sushi rice as per the pack instructions. In a bowl mix  sugar and sushi vinegar for working with the rice.  Place the nori on the bamboo mat and thinly spread rice ( using the vinegar mix to dampen the rice). Add fillings of your choice about a third of the way up the nori. Carefully roll using the bamboo mat. There are plenty of YouTube videos out there showing you the technique. Once rolled, use a sharp knife and cut out the sushi rolls according to the size of your choice. Smaller the size, daintier they look but it also depends on the fillings. Serve with soy sauce, ginger and wasabi. Enjoy! Ann x

Sushi for Beginners
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