I’ve made something this week that I think looks really impressive as well as being really tasty! Sushi is one of these great little dishes that can be used for so many things; as a starter at a dinner party, finger food at a buffet, a light snack or you can even put it in your lunchbox to take to work! I thought it would be difficult to make myself, however, it was a challenge I was more than willing to take on, even if it did require a few “specialist” ingredients. After anticipating difficulty in finding the ingredients to make “Cucumber Maki”, I was pleasantly surprised to find them all in my local Sainsbury’s so there really was no need go out of my way to find anything!
The first thing to prepare is the sushi rice. You must use sushi rice as the grains are fatter and shorter than long grain rice and when it’s cooked it’s very sticky which helps hold the maki together. Take one cup of the rice and rinse it thoroughly before steeping it in a cup and a half of water for 30 mins. I put mine to steep in a saucepan as after it has steeped you want to bring the rice to the boil and then simmer it for 10 minutes. The rice should soak up all of the water. If you find it running dry before the 10 minutes is up, I’d add a little more water as you don’t want undercooked, chewy rice! After the water has been soaked up, your rice will be very sticky. Leave it to cool for 20 minutes.
Whilst the rice was cooking, I made something called “Tezu” that you put over the rice after it’s been cooked. You can skip this step by buying Sushi Rice Seasoning, but I preferred making it myself as obviously there’s a limit on the number of times I’m going to use that whereas I have the ingredients to make Tezu in my cupboard already.
Tezu is made using 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar, or you can use ordinary white vinegar, which is what I did. You then add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 and a half tablespoons of salt. Bring all of this to the boil in a saucepan and let it cool before you pour it on the cooled rice. This is why I made this whilst the rice was cooking as it gave plenty of time for it to cool down. I love the vinegary sour/sweet flavour of Tezu and did try a good few teaspoonfuls before I put it on the rice! Be careful if you try it though as the vinegar definitely catches your throat!
This amount of Tezu will probably be way too much for the amount of rice you have. I used just one tablespoon over the rice once it had cooled and then tasted it to see if it needed more. It’s entirely down to you what you think, but the flavour shouldn’t be too strong or noticeable really.
The next thing to do is to prepare your Sushi Nori sheet and begin rolling up the sushi. Sushi Nori is just seaweed that has been harvested and slowly dried into square sheets. It has a shiny side and a duller looking side. According to websites I’ve looked at and recipes I consulted, rolling sushi requires a bamboo mat. Again, being someone with a total “make do with what you have” attitude, I reckon this isn’t really the case. I think you could do a fairly good job by putting your Sushi Nori on any kind of flexible mat ( like a wipe-clean placemat) or even a clean (non-fluffy!) teatowel might work so long as you apply enough pressure. I luckily had some bamboo placemats that someone had bought me as a wedding present years ago. I laid the mat out vertically and then laid the Sushi Nori on top with the shiny side down. Spread the sushi rice just one grain thick over the nori, leaving at least 1cm clear at the top. This can be a little awkward as the rice is quite sticky. I found it best to plonk on a spoonful of rice and then smooth it out with the back of a spoon.
In the middle of the nori sheet, make a slight dent with your fingers all the way across. This is where you will lay your cucumber. I took half a cucumber and then cut it lengthways. I then took one of those halves and cut that again, and then took one of those and cut it again, to make one long, thin piece of cucumber which I placed in the hollow of the rice that I’d made. Some recipes may tell you to put Umeboshi purée into the hollow first. Again, you can buy this in supermarkets but I didn’t use it as I don’t think it’s essential.
You then begin rolling the mat from the edge closest to you, keeping the filling in place with your fingers. Roll it firmly but not so hard that the rice squeezes out of the ends of the roll. Once it is all rolled up, squeeze it gently but firmly whilst also pulling on the opposite end of the mat. I forgot to pull on the other end of the mat, but I did squeeze the sushi firmly and it worked fine! The 1cm of nori that you left free at the end might need sticking down with water. Just dip your finger in a little water, run it along that edge and squeeze it together. To cut the sushi, I used a wet knife with a serrated edge and cut with a gentle sawing motion. The roll should make six equal pieces, discarding the untidy end pieces.
You can eat this with a little soy sauce on the side like I did, although my Chinese friend told me that I should mix wasabi into the soy sauce as that is how it is usually eaten. I didn’t have wasabi so missed that part out, but again, it can be bought in the supermarket.
Remember you don’t have to make Cucumber Maki, you can replace the cucumber with avocado (one of my favourites!) or carrot or even ginger and pickles-whatever you fancy! I’m so impressed with my attempt at it, but sadly my picture doesn’t do it justice! I thought this could easily end in disaster but actually it was fine! Nothing at all to worry about and now I know how to do it, I can take it on picnics, send it with my husband to work or simply just enjoy it at home when I fancy it! It really did taste just like in Japanese restaurants which makes me a feel a little sad as I’ve debunked a huge myth that making this stuff is hard! Oh well!
Bringing this back to a simmer on the Aga plates I popped back the browned sausages plus some chopped spinach (I tend to keep frozen chopped spinach and add it to all sorts of casseroles, curries and soups as an extra veg to get into the children…and adults!), a bag of chopped mixed vegetables and beans from Waitrose (laziness personified maybe but I also keep these in the freezer for times like these), a tsp of dried Rosemary and Thyme, a slightly excessive squeeze of tomato puree, a couple of tsp of horseradish sauce and finally I chuck in some miniature new potatoes. 
