How to make sushi
Sachie’s Kitchen sushi Ray Mc Vinnie’s relaxed dinner for eight The simplest five-ingredient pasta
Tuna salad rolls
Makes 4 rolls
2 cups (using 250ml cup) short grain rice 90-100ml sushi vinegar 4 nori sheets 100g carrots, julienne (matchstick) cut 50g cucumber, seeded, cut into strips 200g can tuna, drained, mixed with 2-4 Tbsp Japanese mayonnaise ¼ fancy lettuce Soy sauce, wasabi and sushi ginger, to serve 1 bamboo sushi mat
1 To wash the rice, place in a pot or rice cooker bowl, fill with cold water, swirl the rice around and then drain the milky water. Use the palm of your hand to push the rice around a couple of times. Add some more water, swirl the rice and drain the milky water. Repeat a couple of times or until the water remains clear.
2 Drain the water completely, add 2 cups of clean water (1 cup of rice to 1 cup of water) and soak for 30 minutes before turning the rice cooker on. If cooking in a pot, cover with a lid, turn on high heat and bring the rice to the boil. As soon as it has boiled, turn down to simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and rest for 5 minutes before you open the lid to perfect rice.
3 Put hot, cooked rice in a large non-metallic bowl. Pour the sushi vinegar over and mix well using a cutting motion rather than a stirring motion, to prevent the rice becoming mushy. Try to cover as many rice grains as possible with the sushi vinegar. Cover with a wet cloth and set aside.
4 Place all the other ingredients on separate plates (buffet style).
5 To make the sushi, place a nori sheet (smooth side down) on top of a sushi rolling mat. Wet your hands with water (to avoid rice sticking to your fingers) and place two handfuls (180g-200g) of sushi rice on the nori. Spread the rice evenly, but leave a 1 cm gap at the top of the seaweed.
6 Place your choice of other ingredients on top of the rice, near the bottom end of the seaweed.
7 Lift the bottom edge of the mat upwards and over the filling, using your fingers to keep the ingredients in the centre of the roll. As the rice meets the nori, squeeze the roll to make it firm and lift the top edge of the mat out to stop it getting caught in the roll. Continue until the roll is complete.
8 Wet a knife with water and cut each roll into 8 pieces and serve with soy sauce, wasabi and ginger.