Sushi’s Surprising Secret – It’s Simple!

Do you want to create a dish that looks amazingly complicated and professional, but is actually very simple to prepare? Sushi could be your answer.

Whenever I tell omnivores that I love sushi, their response is usually ‘I couldn’t eat raw fish’. Well, I can’t eat fish cooked either. Sushi also comes in vegetarian form, and I love the stuff. A friend of mine owns a Scandinavian sushi restaurant in Rhodes, Greece (it’s a bizarre cultural combination I know, but it works) and I always go there to eat when I’m on the island. I’ve also eaten sushi in a Japanese restaurant in the Venice hotel in Las Vegas. I think the best veggie sushi I have ever tasted was at Boston market. No matter what diet you follow, you could spend days in Boston Market trying all the food and you would probably come out weighing about a stone more.

I’ve been keen to try making sushi at home for a while, and I wish I’d tried it sooner because it is sooooo simple.

Here’s what you need:

• Nori seaweed sheets
• Sushi rice
• Something to put in the sushi. Anything that you can cut into thin strips will do. Personally I like cucumber, peppers and chillies.
• A sushi rolling mat – I’m not sure how essential this is, but I’d recommend investing in one. They only cost a couple of pounds, and if it turns out you don’t like sushi you can always use it as a decorative place mat.
• Pickled ginger, soy sauce, wasabi paste etc to accompany.

You should be able to find all these ingredients in a good health food store, or in the specialist section of large supermarkets.

Here’s what you do:

1. Prepare the sushi rice as directed on the packet.
2. Lay a nori sheet on your rolling mat so that the longest side is along the top.
3. Spread a thin layer of sushi rice on to the bottom two thirds of the nori sheet.
4. Lay the cucumber/pepper, or whatever you are using to fill your sushi, along the top of the rice, about halfway down the nori sheet.
5. Wet the top edge of the nori sheet with water.
6. Using the rolling mat, roll the whole thing into a long tube. Make sure the final edge sticks where you have wet it.
7. Cut the sushi into 2cm thick pieces.

Sushi will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Here are some top tips that the sales advisor in my local health food shop gave me about preparing sushi:

• You can use sticky brown rice if you can’t get hold of sushi rice.
• The instructions on the sushi rice will tell you to soak it in water for 40 minutes before cooking it. If you’re short of time, this soaking time can be reduced and the rice will still taste OK.
• Don’t be too generous with the sushi rice. Only spread a thin layer on to the nori sheet. If you use too much rice, it will all spill out the ends and your sushi won’t roll together properly.
• Use a really sharp knife to cut the sushi rolls.
• Be careful if you decide to prepare wasabi paste from powder. You only need to use a little bit. One teaspoon wasabi paste to two teaspoons water is enough for a 6 piece portion of sushi.

I was so proud of my sushi that I took these photos to show you.

More Sweet Treats

For those of you with a sweet tooth, here are some more recipes. Apologies if you are on a health kick, and I promise I will be blogging some more veggie-based, healthier recipes again soon. I'll also be trying gluten-free alternatives to these ones. Enjoy J

Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

100g/3½oz plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

large pinch of salt

125g/4oz soya spread

175g/6oz soft brown sugar

1tsp xanthan gum

1tsp vanilla essence

175g/6oz organic porridge oats

50g/2oz chocolate chips (These are optional. Obviously, regular chocolate chips contain dairy, but you can buy vegan alternatives. The cookies still taste great even if you miss them out altogether)

1. Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180ºc/Fan 160ºc.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Beat together the soya spread, sugar and vanilla essence until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture and then beat for another 2 minutes. Add the oats and chocolate chips (if using them) and stir to mix through. Finally, add the xanthan gum and quickly mix in.
4. Line 2 baking sheets with non-stick baking paper. Drop a heaped tbsp of the dough onto a baking sheet and press down to flatten, then repeat it 11 times – you should be able to fit 12 cookies onto each sheet.
5. Bake for 8 minutes until golden but still slightly soft in the middle. Allow to sit on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

It took me a long time and many attempts to find a cookie recipe as good as this one. Previous recipes that I tried all tasted really dry, but what makes the difference with this one is the porridge oats. They keep the cookies nice and moist.

　

Flapjack

If anyone ever tells you they can’t bake, pass this recipe on to them. It only uses 3 ingredients, is really easy and makes the best home-made flapjack I have ever found.

To avoid any language barriers, what we call a flapjack in the UK is known as a muesli bar in Australasia and totally different to what is classed as a flapjack in the States. For anyone reading this in the USA, the best was I can describe it is as an oat bar. Please see the photo above.

Ingredients

4½oz/6tbsp golden syrup or corn syrup (Please note: I’m not sure why, but golden syrup from a tin works better than the squeezy bottles)

200g soya spread

12oz/330g organic porridge oats

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºf/180ºc/Gas 4.
2. Grease a 9"x13"/23cm x 33cm tin and line the base with baking paper.
3. Place the syrup and soya spread into a large saucepan and heat gently until the spread has melted into the syrup. Stir well.
4. Put the porridge oats into a large mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt (optional – I usually forget!) then pour the soya spread and syrup mixture over the oats and stir until they are all coated well.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, flatten down well with the back of a metal spoon, and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven while the flapjack is still slightly soft.
6. Place the tin on a wire cooling rack and cut the flapjack into squares. Leave in the tin until completely cool.