Recipe: California rolls

Ingredients

Sushi rice

• 225 g (9 oz) sushi rice
• 300 ml (10.5 fl oz) water
• 30 ml (1 tbsp) rice vinegar
• 25 g (1 oz) caster sugar
• 5 ml (1 tsp) salt

Filling

• 3 sheets of nori seaweed, one-third trimmed off lengthways
• 2.5 ml ( 1/2 tsp) wasabi paste
• 125 g (1 oz) white crab meat
• 15 cm (6”) piece of daikon radish or cucumber, peeled, halved across and each piece cut into julienne strips
• 1/2 medium avocado, peeled, stoned and sliced lengthways into thin strips
• 75 g (1 oz) tbsp salmon roe

To serve

• Pickled ginger
• Wasabi paste
• Japanese soy sauce

Method

1. Place the rice in a sieve and rinse under cold running water for a few minutes until the water runs clear. Pour the rice into a heavy-based pan and add the measured water. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and bring to the boil over a high heat for 5 minutes. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and leave to stand, still covered, for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, simmer the vinegar, sugar and salt together in a small, non-metallic pan for a few minutes, stirring, until dissolved. Leave to cool.
3. Spread the rice evenly in a large, shallow dish. Using a wooden spatula, slice (rather than stir) into the rice at the same time as slowly pouring the vinegar mixture over. This will separate the rice grains, dress them evenly and make the rice glossy and sticky. Leave the rice to cool to room temperature.
4. Cover a sushi rolling mat with cling film, tucking the edges underneath. Place a nori leaf on the mat so that it is longer from left to right.
5. Using damp hands, spread one third of the rice evenly over the leaf. Pick up the leaf and quickly turn it over on the mat so that the rice is now face down on the cling film.
6. Smear a little wasabi paste in a line from left to right, down the centre of the nori leaf. Then layer a third of the crab, daikon radish, avocado and salmon roe along the centre.
7. Pick up the near edge of the mat and, with a little pressure, carefully roll the mat over the sushi to meet the other edge. Use your fingers to help keep the filling in place at first. The sushi should form a long roll, the rice being on the outside.
8. Remove the roll from the sushi mat and sit the roll seam side down on a chopping board. Using a dampened sharp knife cut each roll into 4 equal pieces. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 12 pieces in total.
9. Serve the California rolls with pickled ginger, wasabi paste and Japanese soy sauce.