Sushi and Salads

My daughter would eat sushi for breakfast, lunch and dinner if she could. So we have this quite often because we are fortunate enough to have a fishmonger who comes to our door once a week. On this occasion I served it with two salads because the children wouldn’t eat the fennel salad so a cucumber concoction accompanied us too. We compared Waitrose bought sushi with homemade. Mine did win, though next time I will use seaweed for a clearer margin!

Ingredients
200g Sushi rice/Japanese rice
500ml water
400g very very fresh tuna or salmon or both
Wasabi paste (optional)

Seasoning liquid
60ml rice vinegar
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt

Salads
1 cucumber, cut into strips using a peeler
pomegranate seeds
Lemon Juice (half a lemon) or white wine vinegar (2 tsp)
Seasoning

1 fennel bulb, very thinly sliced using a mandolin if you have one.
juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Coriander leaves
Seasoning

1.  Rinse the rice 3 or 4 times by replacing fresh water until it is clear and then put the rice in a pan and add the 500ml water.
2.  Cook until the water has been absorbed stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and pour the seasoning liquid over the rice. Stir in.
3. In a jam jar place the Seasoning ingredients. Put the lid on and give the jar a shake to mix the ingredients.
4. Quickly place a tea towel on top of the pan and a lid on that.  Allow it to cool.
5.  Take the fish and with a sharp knife, slice half centimetre thick slices (approximate).
6.   Using wet hands or disposable kitchen gloves, shape the rice into little rectangles and place them on a serving dish.
7.  Put a thin layer of wasabi on top if you like, or spread it on the underside of the fish slice which can be easier.
8.  Place a piece of tuna or salmon on top of each rice rectangle.
9. Serve with gluten free soy sauce (Tamari).
10. For the salads, just mix the ingredients together. Were I to make more of a Japanese effort, these salads may not fit the bill, but good for a family lunch.