Perfect for a romantic night in, these delicate sushi rolls are surprisingly simple to make Valentine’s Day Sushi Roll
Instructions:
Step 1: Preparing the tuna tartare
Begin by making a simple tuna tartare. This a great recipe for using up sashimi leftovers as off-cuts are ideal for this. Chop up the raw tuna off-cuts and transfer to a bowl.
Add a tablespoon of mayonnaise and a tablespoon of masago (Caplin fish roe). Add a squirt of Sriracha hot sauce, being careful to tailor this to your spice tolerance.
Mix gently and place in the fridge until needed.
Step 2: Making the pink mayonnaise
Create the pink mayonnaise by mixing roughly 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise with a tablespoon of raspberry juice. You can add more raspberry juice to get a deeper colour, or alternatively a couple of drops of synthetic food dye will achieve a similar effect.
Create a make-shift piping bag by taking a regular zip lock bag. Grab the corner of the bag and wrap it around your hand. Push the plastic inside your balled fist to make a crevice.
Scoop the mayonnaise in the crevice, invert the bag and refrigerate for later use. To create the piping bag, we will simply snip the corner of the plastic bag before use.
Step 3: Assembling the roll
Preparation finished, we can now begin to assemble the roll.
Place a bamboo rolling mat within a zip-lock bag. Place half a sheet of nori on top.
Take the cooked sushi rice (120g/4oz) and place evenly on top of the nori. Be careful not to compact the sushi rice; it should be light and fluffy.
If you’re unsure of how to cook sushi rice, use this simple sushi rice guide.
Step 4: Creating the sushi roll
Flip over the sheet of nori (so the rice is facing the bamboo rolling mat) and fork the tuna tartare on top. The tuna should form a central column. Place 2 slices of avocado (peeled) on top of the tuna.
Roll the bamboo mat using a press and release forwards motion to create the sushi roll. You should now be left with a neat roll.
Step 5: Creating the half heart shape
To create the heart, the roll should resemble a half heart shape. We create this by placing the bamboo mat over the sushi roll. Press down on one side using your palms and use your fingers to keep the other side in place – this will create the half heart shape.
Step 6: Slicing the tuna
The next stage involves cutting neat slices of sushi grade tuna in order to cover the roll.
To get beautiful melt-in-the-mouth tuna, it’s important to cut the tuna correctly. Cut through the muscle fibre by cutting at a 90 degree angle to the fat lines (these are the silvery lines running through the tuna).
Press your fingers softly against the tuna and cut using a gentle single motion. The knife should be extremely sharp.
Cut 6 thin slices and gently layer them over the sushi roll, making sure the tuna covers the whole length of the roll. Use a bamboo mat to press the tuna into place and trim off any excess.
Step 7: Cutting the roll
Place cling film over the roll and press in place using a bamboo mat. This will make it easier to cut the roll into individual pieces. In order to get a cleaner cut, wet your knife before cutting. Trim the ends off the roll.
Cut the roll in half. Then into quarters and then into eighths. This will ensure each piece is equal in size. Wipe down your knife each time you cut – this will ensure a clean cut each time.
After cutting, shape the roll back into place using your bamboo mat. Apply a gentle squeezing motion to ensure everything is kept neatly in place.
Step 8: Decorating the hearts
Remove the cling film and create a heart shape by placing two of the half-heart shaped pieces together.
Garnish your hearts by sprinkling silky egg yolk s over the top of the hearts. Head over to YouTube for a fullsilky egg yolk recipe.
Once the hearts are topped with the mixture, take your pink mayonnaise piping bag out of the fridge. Cut a small opening in the bottom of the bag.
Carefully pipe the mixture around the edge of the heart, creating a pink border.
To serve, gently slide onto suitable plate/board and add a pile of pickled ginger, a wasabi leaf and adecorative carrot butterfly. Serve with a generous bowl of soy sauce on the side.
Ingredients
Rawsushi grade tuna– tuna steak and off-cuts for tuna tartare
Breathe fire into your sushi creations with this artistic Dragon Sushi Roll recipe. Crunchy tempura shrimp and avocado are encased in a wrap of nori and sushi rice; the flavors enhanced with a layer of juicy Unagi filet, and fragrant Unagi sauce. The dragon is brought to life with just a few strategically positioned food elements, and a blaze of mayonnaise and Sriracha sauce along each side.
Instructions:
Step 1: Preparing the Dragon Sushi Roll Base (Body)
Firstly, cover your bamboo mat with a plastic zip-lock bag. This will enable you to compact your Unagi topped sushi roll later on, without the rice getting stuck in the rivets of the mat.
Lay a full sheet of Nori onto the covered bamboo mat, then moisten your hands with a little cold water to transfer the rice without it sticking. Spread 120g of cooked white sushi rice over half the surface area of your Nori sheet, leaving a 2.5 cm space at the end closest to you.
Flip the entire sheet over so that the rice covered side is face down. On the bare side, you will begin to add your filling. Arrange three battered tempura prawns side-by-side across the width of your Nori sheet, followed by a row of three avocado segments just below. Lightly drizzle your filling with Unagi sauce.
Begin rolling the Nori sheet around your filling by bring up the end closest to you with the bamboo mat. Curl this over the filling, using your fingers to gently compress as you go. Continue rolling until you reach the end of the Nori sheet. The moisture of the rice from the underside will help the sheet ends to adhere.
Step 2: Creating the Eel (Unagi) Topping
After defrosting the eel filet, briefly grill it for around five minutes to bring out the natural flavor and oils. Then cut the filet in half length ways with a sharp knife. You will only need one half of the filet for this recipe.
Place the sushi roll you prepared earlier onto your chopping board. Gently position the half eel filet on top of your sushi roll, allowing the pointed ‘tail’ end to overhang at one end.
Lay a piece of cling film over the Unagi topped sushi roll, using your fingers to gently shape it around the roll. Cover the entire roll with the sushi mat, then use your fingers to compress the top and sides so that the eel is firmly pressed into the rice. Leave the cling film in place for the next step, as this will help you to achieve cleaner cuts.
Step 3: Cutting the Sushi Roll
Moisten the blade of your knife with a little cold water. Position your knife approximately 3.5 cm from the flat end of the sushi roll (not the pointed tail end) and cut. Repeat until you have around 6-7 segments, plus a larger one at the tail end.
Lay the bamboo mat over the sushi roll again, and use your fingers to gently compress to firm up the segments. Remove the cling-film.
Before transferring the roll over to a plate, affix a small, 1 cm thick strip of Nori to each segment, starting from the second piece at the head end. This will help the Unagi and rice to stay in place.
Step 4: Decorating the Dragon Roll
With the flat of your knife, or your fingers, transfer the sushi roll segments onto a plate. If the plate isn’t big enough to arrange the dragon in a straight line, position the segments at a curve, allowing the tail segment to sit at an angle in line with the edge of the plate.
For the dragon’s eyes, simply push two octopus suction cups into the Unagi at the head end of the dragon.
To create the mane: cut a whole cucumber in half, then half it again lengthways. Chop off the end. Begin making wafer thin cuts along the length of the cucumber, continuing until the entire half comprises small wafer thin slices. Discard the two pieces from either side.
Position your knife at the widest point of the cucumber at a 45 degree angle, then cut downwards diagonally. Discard the end pieces. Peel away roughly half of the cucumber slices and fan them out in your hand with your fingers. Repeat with the remaining slices, then position each fan on either side of the dragon ‘head’, between the first and second segments. Slot two paprika slices in the same space so that they stand up behind the head.
For the whiskers, simply remove them from a deep fried shrimp head and push them into the Unagi on either side of the dragon’s face.
Drizzle the entire dragon with Unagi sauce.
Step 5: Decorating the Plate
To create the illusion of fire on your plate, first create a zig-zag of white using garlic mayonnaise on either side of the dragon roll. Repeat using Sriracha sauce. Using the tip of a cocktail stick, pull the Sriracha sauce through the mayonnaise with swift, fine strokes until the two combine. You should end up with a flame-like effect on either side of the dragon roll.
To serve, simply arrange a handful of pickled ginger on one side of your plate alongside a generous squirt of Wasabi paste.
