Here is part 1 in an occasional series. I have found that children eat much better when they are allowed to help prepare their own food and even to “play” with it, so we have developed a few standard dishes that we prepare at home. This is especially important when children go through fussy phases or when they have fussy friends over to play and eat with the family!
Sushi has become a firm family favourite, it’s very healthy and maybe surprisingly our children adore it. Young kids will need some help to assemble their maki rolls and other bits and pieces but it’s a delight to watch them playing with colours and textures of the different components (even if there is sometimes more than the usual clean up required afterwards!). It requires a little preparation beforehand, namely the rice needs to be cooked and cold before starting to “play”. Ideally this should be done the night before but a few hours earlier is ok too, just put the pan into the fridge after stage 1 is completed.
Stage 1: First cook your rice.
We usually use a whole 500g bag of special sushi rice, put it in a pan with cold water (follow the instructions on the packet or as a guideline, test how deep the rice is in the bottom of the pan, put the same depth of water over the top).
Put the pan on the stove and bring to the boil. Once it is boiling, fix the lid on the top of the pan firmly and turn off the heat. Leave to cook in it’s own steam, this will take around 20 mins. DO NOT STIR the rice at this point.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl prepare 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar and a table spoon of sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix well until the sugar is dissolved.
After about 20 minutes remove the lid of the pan and check to see if all the water has been absorbed, test the texture of the rice, it should not be crunchy! If there is still water in the bottom or the rice is not fully cooked, place the lid on the pan again and leave it a little longer.
Once the rice is cooked but while it is still warm, pour over the vinegar and sugar mixture and stir it in to the rice with a fork until the rice is well mixed. Leave to cool completely.
Stage 2. Just before eating, take vegetables and sushi fish (unless making vegetarian sushi) and chop into fine strips. This can be anything you like really, we usually use cucumber, spring onion, avocado, carrot and beetroot. Sushi fish can be bought from most good fishmongers and should be frozen for a minimum of 24 hours at at least -20C to be safe for eating.
Stage 3.
Lay out the dining table with plates, chopsticks, sushi rolling mats, nori (seaweed sheets), toasted sesame seeds (dry fry for a minute or two over a moderate heat in a frying pan), soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi as well as the rice and plates of chopped raw vegetables.
To assemble your maki rolls
Spread a sheet of nori with a thin layer of rice, layer vegetables and fish in a thin line down the centre and roll with the assistance of a mat into a cylinder shape. Use a sharp knife dipped in water to slice the cylinder into sushi maki rolls. Place on a plate and garnish with soy sauce, sesame seeds and perhaps a little chopped fresh coriander.
For other forms, compress some rice between two spoons and lay fish or vegetable equivalent over the top (mushrooms and avocado work well here)
Eat and enjoy!
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