Home Made Sushi

My lovely friend Grace bought me a sushi making kit and so I thought I'd show you how I got on with it and what ingredients it contained so you can do it your selves. But first, let me introduce you to my best uni friend, Jossi! I pretty much spend all my waking time with her and she is wonderful! She's also experienced in the sushi making department, so offered me a hand.

If you're anything like me, you probably love sushi. There's just something about those tiny gem like parcels which begs you to eat them! However, they've always looked so artistically presented that I doubted I could produce anything nearly as divine.  I'm glad to tell you, they're not as tricky to make as you may think. Then again, I did have a champion roller on hand, so maybe I had a slight advantage?

Ingredients:
300g sushi rice
rice vinegar
3 sheets of sushi nori (the seaweed for around the edges)
a pack of smoked salmon
a couple of carrots
a cucumber (or avocado)
Bamboo mat (for rolling)
pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi to serve

Firstly take your sushi rice. (This tends to be a short grain rice and gets sticky when it's cooked- the longer grain variety doesn't stick and so is no use.) Boil this up in a saucepan with double the amount of water to rice. When all the water is absorbed or boiled off, add four tablespoons of rice vinegar. Mix thoroughly. (See how sticky?) Now leave it to cool completely.

Chop the carrots, cucumber or avocado in to thin long batons and the salmon into slim slices.

Next, lay out the bamboo mat and place a sheet of seaweed on it. Then cover two thirds of the seaweed with the rice- pat it down quite flat.  Layer strips of  the filling just under half way up the rice. All you need to do now is roll your sushi! Make sure you role it quite tight. Seal the seaweed with a dab of water and then cut the roll into bite sized slices.

                       

Serve with some soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger for dipping. Don't forget your chopsticks!