Sushi salad - Deconstructed sushi bowl

An epicurean adventure to: Japan (inspired by)

This visually stunning sushi salad is pretty much sushi as you know it but deconstructed. It is the perfect fusion of Japanese and Western cuisine.

Let's give a big shout-out to the brilliant minds in Japan who gifted us the amazing creation of sushi! Doumo arigatou, Japan! Our sushi salad bowl is our way of paying tribute to Japan's sushi tradition, with a playful twist.

Maybe you've always wanted to make homemade sushi but you don't have the equipment, or it just feels too overwhelming - this salad is for you! it's healthy, nutrient-rich, refreshing, crunchy and best of all, it does really taste exactly like sushi.

Below you will find step-by-step instructions on how to make perfect sushi rice. Yes, we do actually make the rice exactly as you would for sushi. It's easy, don't worry!

It's served alongside a delicious salad dressing. We make topping suggestions but feel free to customise. It's great fun to make and you can really get creative with the styling of the bowls. We hope you will enjoy making this as much as we do!

You can also try this Gyoza sauce with the salad if you're after something spicy.

Fast facts - Japan

Key ingredient notes and substitutions

Sushi rice

This is usually labelled as Sushi rice and can be found in the Asian section in most supermarkets.

It's imperative to rinse the sushi rice thoroughly beforehand. Short-grain rice is usually a lot more starchy than long-grain rice, which means that it will become very sticky or glutinous when it's cooked without being rinsed.

Rice vinegar

Also known as rice wine vinegar. It's said that you can replace rice vinegar with apple cider vinegar to make sushi rice, but we have not tried it. Let us know in the comments if you have and whether it works!

Smoked salmon

You can also use salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi or even a good quality tinned tuna. Alternatively, you can leave the fish out to make it vegetarian, or use tofu.

Baby cucumbers

Also known as Persian cucumbers. These are the snack-sized small cucumbers which are now quite common in most grocery stores. They taste exactly the same as an English cucumber but have slightly fewer seeds, making it ideal for the cucumber ribbons we're making for this salad.

How to make sushi salad

To make perfect sushi rice

1. Add the rice to a fine mesh sieve and rinse it under cold running water until the water runs completely clear.
   
   If you have a spray head on your kitchen tap, it works excellently for rinsing rice in a sieve. You can also rinse the rice in a bowl. On average it will need about three rinses.

2. Add the rinsed rice to a bowl and add just enough water to cover it. Let it soak for 30 minutes. Soaking allows the rice to absorb water right to the centre of each grain, which will result in even cooking.
   
   You can actually see how much the rice swells during this time by comparing the top picture of the dry rice in the sieve to the one below after soaking.

3. Drain the rice and let it sit in the sieve over a bowl for 5 minutes to drain completely.

4. Add the rice to a medium saucepan along with the 330ml fresh cold water. Bring the water up to a simmer, cover tightly with the lid and turn the heat to low. Cook undisturbed for 10 minutes.

5. After 10 minutes, remove the saucepan from the heat and let the rice rest for a further 10 minutes with the lid on. In the meantime, get started on the sushi seasoning.

6. In a small bowl, mix together the three tablespoons of rice vinegar, two tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of salt. Leave it to sit for a minute or two until the sugar dissolves fully. Mix again.

7. When the rice has rested, tip it into a large bowl that's been slightly dampened with water on the inside. This will help prevent the rice from sticking to the bowl.

8. Evenly drizzle the vinegar mixture over the warm rice. Using a wooden spoon or a wooden spatula, gently mix the seasoning into the rice (metal spoons can damage the soft grains of the rice and may also react to the vinegar).
   
   Using a cutting motion through the rice with the spoon helps to distribute the seasoning, as well as separate the rice.

9. Cover the bowl of rice with a damp kitchen towel and set it aside to cool to room temperature whilst you get on with preparing the salad dressing and toppings.

To make the salad dressing

1. Add all the ingredients for the dressing to a small bowl and whisk together, taking extra care that the wasabi dissolves into the liquid. Pour into a small jug to serve with your salad.

Prepare the salad toppings

1. Separate the smoked salmon into individual 'sheets' and cut each sheet into long ribbons about 2.5cm/1" thick.

2. Pit and peel the avocados and slice them into thin slices.

3. Peel the carrot and slice it into julienne strips. You can do this by hand or by using a mandoline. Here's a handy video on how to Julienne carrots by hand.

4. Using a potato peeler, peel long strips lengthways from the cucumber to create 'ribbons'. When you almost reach the centre of the cucumber, turn it around and repeat from the other side.

5. Using scissors, cut a sheet of nori into very thin strips - think paper when it's gone through a shredder.

6. Top and tail the radishes and slice them into paper-thin slices.
   
   Top tip: To make paper-thin slices, hold the radish so the sliced surface faces towards you. When slicing through it, make sure that you can 'see' the knife blade through the radish (see photo above). This gives you a good indication of how thin you're slicing and you can adjust accordingly. Slow and steady wins the race.

Assembling the sushi salad

**Please note, this is how we arrange our salad, you can put your own spin on it, or slice the vegetables in other unique ways.

1. Divide the rice into four individual bowls.

2. Pile the salmon ribbons into the middle of each rice bowl.

3. Fan out a few slices of avocado on top of the rice.

4. Bunch together julienned carrots and place them towards the side of the bowl. We like to have them sticking out across the rim a little.

5. Take the cucumber ribbons and loosely roll them up into small spirals. Nestle them together on the rice. If you keep them close to each other it stops them from unrolling. It also helps to lightly press them down into the rice.

6. Place a bunch of the nori strips onto the rice - Because they are similarly sliced to the carrots, place them on the opposite side of the bowl to keep it interesting.

7. Dot the radishes across the salad where you see gaps, preferably in groups of three/five.

8. Leave a small area of rice bare to show what's underneath the toppings.

9. Lavishly sprinkle over the sesame and poppy seeds for extra colour and texture. The black sesame seeds look great on the green avocado and the white rice.

10. Serve the salad alongside the salad dressing with pickled sushi ginger and extra wasabi. Have some black pepper and sea salt on the side for anyone who wishes to season their salad to their liking.

Variations

• Other ideas for vegetables: Sliced bell pepper, edamame beans, snow peas, bean sprouts, green onions, baby spinach.

• Other ideas for protein: Sashimi like salmon or tuna, cooked shrimp, cooked prawns, imitation crabmeat (crab sticks), hard-boiled egg.

• Skip the sushi rice and serve it with brown rice instead.

For a vegetarian/vegan sushi salad

• Swap the meat for grilled, baked or pan-fried tofu.

• Swap the honey for agave or maple syrup.

Serving suggestions

• Serve the sushi bowls with pickled sushi ginger, wasabi paste, Japanese mayonnaise or sesame oil.

• Serve in individual bowls or make one large salad.

• Serve with chopsticks.

• Ensure the rice has completely cooled down before adding the vegetables on top.

Side dishes to serve with sushi rice

• Miso soup.

• Gyoza and Gyoza sauce.

• Pickled vegetables.

• Vegetable tempura or shrimp tempura.

• Sushi rolls - you can never have enough sushi!

Storage and safety

As with most salads, this sushi salad is best enjoyed freshly made, but it will still be ok the following day if kept covered in an airtight container in the fridge. It is no longer safe to eat cooked rice after a day, so best consume it all in 24 hours.

If you are making this for lunch boxes, be sure to keep it in the fridge as soon as you get to work. It's ideal for a picnic, but keep it in a cooler bag right up until you're going to eat it.

If you are using sashimi, always buy sushi-grade sashimi which has been handled and stored in such a way that makes it safe to eat raw.

More Asian inspired recipes

Chinese lettuce wraps - Yuk Sung

Nepalese chicken curry

Pasanda curry

Satay chicken stir fry