:: homemade sushi ::

I just adore sushi, and I frequented the little sushi noodle shop around the corner from my work. It was agony not being able to choose the smoked salmon version while I was pregnant. That stuff gives me the happies. But if only I knew how frightfully simple it was to make! I could of saved me a lot of dollars.

When my sister and mum came to stay and play with my little bubba, they showed me the ropes and I'll honestly never need to buy it again... it's too easy. I'd like to give brown rice a go (I used to buy that one) but thought I'd better use white for this demo, as brown rice isn't as sticky, and I'd probably make a royal mess of it.

Homemade Sushi

 

• 2 cups of cooled, overcooked rice (with 2 Tab of white vinegar stirred through afterwards)

• 1 bamboo mat (available from regular supermarkets)

• 1 packet of nori

• whatever fillings you like!

1. Start by laying a nori sheet on your bamboo mat, and then spreading a thin layer of rice over 3/4s of it. I like to press the rice down a bit to make it clag together.

2. Lay your filling on the base of the rice layer. I'm using avocado & smoked salmon. Yeah!!

3. With TWO hands (I had to take the piccie on my own) start to curl the mat over, and use your fingers to press on the filling, keeping it in place.

4. Peel the mat back as you gently but firmly continue to roll it all the way up.

5. Once you get to the end, some of the rice may have been squished along. Gently scrape this off.

6. Dip your fingers in some cold water and dab a small amount along the nori to make it sticky.

7. Complete the roll so the damp edge is stuck to the rest of the roll. Use the bamboo mat to gently give the whole roll one final squeeze so it's sealed up nicely.

I like to cut the big roll into two, and pour a little soy sauce in the top of it, letting it run through the whole roll. You can also slice them a lot finer to make little rounds.

I also made some celery & tomato-flavoured tuna ones. This whole pyramid would have cost $16.80 from my local sushi shop. Whereas this cost me (even with the salmon!) around $4.00.

Enjoy!

:: humpday special! smoked salmon quiche ::

I'm sorry I didn't post anything last Wednesday, if you noticed. I've had a full-on weekend with our housewarming shin-dig held on Saturday night, and I'm still getting the chip crumbs out of the carpet now. But it was a fantastic night, made best by my mother-in-law's super huge black forest cake. I was sad not to get a photo of it, but I only thought of it after I had my fingers planted in the icing as I attempted to cut the soft work of art into 20 pieces and figure out if I had enough plates.

This humpday absolutely revolved around my lunch time, as I had scored the last leftover piece of this AMAZING smoked salmon quiche. Hands-down the best thing that's come out of my oven for a while. I swear I spent the whole morning dreaming of it.

Hence, today's post is the recipe, and I hope you get to give it a go! I found it somewhere online but edited it enough that I don't think I'll bother posting the link.

~ Han's Smoked Salmon Quiche ~

1 batch of short crust pastry (see below if you need a recipe)

bunch of fresh spinach (4-6 leaves, chopped, de-stalked)

250g smoked salmon (that thinly sliced stuff)

4 eggs

300mls cream

10 leaves basil

salt & pepper

mozzerella cheese for on top

Method:

Beat together eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a bowl.

 Roll out your pastry between two floured pieces of glad-wrap and press into your quiche dish. There's no need to blind-bake. Yay!

Lay half of the salmon in the bottom of the dish, on top of the raw pastry. 

Chop basil roughly and scatter over the salmon, along with half the spinach.

Pour over 1/3 of the cream mixture.

Then the rest of the salmon, the remaining spinach, and all of the remaining cream mixture.

Scatter mozzerella cheese on last, cover the dish in foil and bake for 30mins on a low shelf in the oven.

Remove the foil, and bake for a further 30 mins so the cheese browns.

Serve warm or cold. De-lish!!

Short Crust Pastry

200g plain wholemeal flour

100g butter, chilled and cut into cubes

1/4 teas salt

50 - 60g water, chilled.

Place flour, butter and salt in food processor and wizz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Set it to a slightly slower setting and gradually pour the chilled water in until the mixture comes together in a ball of dough. Wrap in glad wrap and let sit in the fridge for 15 mins while you make the rest of the recipe.

I'd also like to to give a shout-out to Katie's (from the Chocolate Covered Katie blog) healthy icecream recipe!!! It was sugar free, based on bananas (yet not bananary) and SO FIRM!!! And just amazing.

See the recipe here.

Till next time!

xo Hannah