Embracing the Kiwi life

Yesterday I felt very kiwi.

I went to a Turkish spice shop for my curry spices, an Asian store for my sushi ingredients, the bakery for my bread, the butcher for my meat, the post office for my stamps and the supermarket for everything else! In the UK I could have just gone to Asda for everything so it's a totally new way of life now!

Last night I tried out some of my new curry spices. Mmmmm curry!
And I made our own roti to go with it. So simple and such a great alternative to shop-bought naan bread.

Ingredients:

200g plain flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp oil
180ml warm water

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together into a dough. Separate out the dough into 8 balls, then roll out into 14cm (ish) discs. Fry in an oiled pan for a few minutes each side until they go golden. Yummy!

I tried sushi for the very first time just a few days ago and I absolutely loved it! As with most things I then thought "I could make this" so today I gave it a go...

Doesn't look too bad for a first attempt does it?!? And what's better, it was delicious. Even the ladybug ate it! I'm so pleased :) I just need to get the munchkin to eat it and we'll have another lunch box option!

And here's how to do it...

You will need:

A sushi mat (it was $2 in the Asian store)
Nori (the seaweed sheet)
Rice (2.5 fluid oz per nori sheet)
Sushi vinegar, 1tsp sugar and pinch of salt to flavour the rice
Whatever you want to put inside!
Woy sauce

Method:

Rinse the rice before you cook it to get rid of some of the starch.  Cook the rice in a non-stick saucepan with double the amount of  boiling water to rice (if 5 fl oz rice then 10 fl oz water).  Cover and cook on low heat for approximately 10 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed.

Next flavour the rice. I'm not sure how much vinegar you should put in as you can get powdered stuff (which I have) or liquid. I just sprinkled a little in.

Then place some cling film (plastic wrap) over the sushi mat and put your nori sheet on top.  Spread the cooked rice over the sheet leaving a little gap at the end furthest from you.

About a third of the way down place your filling in a line across the sheet.  I used cucumber and carrot strips because that's all I had in the fridge.  I then drizzled a small amount of sesame and ginger sauce over the strips.

Roll your nori using the mat.  You will need to peel back the cling film and mat as you roll.  Then wrap it in the cling film and place in the fridge for a few minutes before slicing (with a very sharp knife).

Enjoy your homemade sushi! :)