A Spring supper with sushi-style salad

I wanted to have this post ready last night, but technology failed me, and thus this post only finds its way into cyberspace tonight, a day after the official start of spring.  

Spring is a bit of a misnomer around here.  My previous page was of a snowy week and bitter cold weather.  All that has come and gone quickly and have been replaced by summer temperatures but no rain yet.  Today was down right scorching, coupled with a howling wind as dry as a desert.  And of course veld fires that came very close to our greenhouses.  

The wind has died down thankfully and in its trail left a clear evening with starry skies and a tiny moon.

As you may have noticed, we like to eat salads when the temperature sours.  Salads with substance; a meal in a bowl sort of dish.  And one of our all time favourites has to be this sushi-style salad.  It all started with us craving sushi but not having the time or the dexterity to make our own.  And thus, the ingredients of sushi found their way into a salad bowl.  

The purest might shudder, but to us this is perfection.  

My children love sushi and will eat the beautifully crafted morsels any day with such gusto that many a sushi chef have smiled a modest smile on seeing them, rice and other bits in a messy circle around them, stuffing a platters worth into their mouths.  They love this cheats version just as much, if not more.  

You have to try this, even if you fancy yourself a non-sushi eater.  Leave the nori and the ginger and the wasabi out if you please.  Just make sure the rice is cool, but not cold and the fish super fresh or smoked even.



Sushi salad (serves 4)

1 cup sushi rice
1T rice vinegar (sushi vinegar)
1T sugar
pinch of salt


Smoked/fresh trout or salmon, diced
2 avocados, diced
1 mango, diced
1 sheet nori, cut into squares


Wash the sushi rice very, very well in a colander.  I have a Japanese recipe book that calls for the rice to be washed for 20 minutes, but no need to go that far.  Just keep it up until the water runs out clean and is no longer milky.
Place the rice in a pot with almost double the amount of cold water to rice.  Slowly bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until the grains are soft to the bite.  Rinse in a colander with cold water, return to the pot and add the salt, sugar and vinegar.  Leave to cool completely.


Turn the rice into a salad bowl and add the other ingredients.  Stir gently and serve with pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauce on the side.  


I often add a tin of litchis as well, which is just as delicious.