So one night after the kids were in bed that's exactly what I did. I'd bought the special sushi rice earlier in the week and the little bamboo rolling mat and the seaweed wrapping. I was set to go.
Now because my day job is Chinese medicine practitioner at Red Tent Health Centre, the idea of my child having raw salmon or tuna at every opportunity sends me into a spin. Raw food is very "cold" and too much "cold" food can dampen digestion - literally. So I decided to cook the salmon in some coconut oil. Hmmmm delicious. Still a bit damp yes but not cold.
So I cooked my salmon, it smelt delish. I cut it into thin strips and made sure I left the skin on as I know my daughter loves crispy skin. I also cut some cucumber into thin strips and mentally told myself it was fine she was going to have "cold" cucumber as it's green, tick, and the salmon is now cooked, tick, so it balances out. Yin and Yang. Gotta love that.
I pulled out the rice and that's when I consulted the recipe. I didn't realise sushi rice had Japanese vinegar in it as well as sugar! So what to do? I had some apple cider vinegar - surely that will do. I popped some of that in and noted that the sushi rice was a little over cooked and some bits were crunchy and hard. So once I'd chucked them to our black lab who goes by the name of Ace, I was more or less in business. There was also no way I was adding sugar. I was trying to improve my daughter's immune system, not deplete it. I just hoped it would taste alright and she wouldn't be able to tell the difference. In the back of my mind I was mentally counting how many times we'd had sushi in her life and was wondering how much sugar actually went into it. Then I asked myself nicely to stop thinking about it and move on.
I started putting the sushi rice on top of the seaweed and it was a bit sticky and that took some time. Then I placed the salmon in the middle and started to roll. That was the tricky bit, making it tight and making it all work was not what I was expecting. I kinda got there, wet the edges and pressed it together. Voila - one down - more to go. To keep it together I swiftly wrapped it in glad wrap and placed it in the fridge. Then I did another, another and another till I had about six rolls ready to go for the morning.
I also tried my hand at Kale chips that evening which was a huge hit - especially with my husband. I'd heard about them. They're not a Chinese med thing, so I'd taken my time on this one. I'd tasted some from our Osteopath Morgan who brought in some she'd made to the Red Tent where we all work and they were waaaay more delish that I was expecting - so I thought I'd try my hand at them too.
The only problem was I didn't have a salad whisker to remove all the water and so some of them were a bit damp, but most of them turned out deliciously crispy and just plain YUM. And ever since that first night of love with Kale, I've been making them over and over. They're a total hit with the kids too, tick!
After this I watched an episode of Breaking Bad and my night felt complete.
The best reward was the next day, as we were running late to go to Kindi, my daughter had her breakfast in the car, salmon sushi - and for lunch she had - salmon sushi! She liked it but she did say she preferred the raw and perhaps next time I could try smoked salmon. Well I could, she's right but eating smoked salmon all the time is number one, raw so "cold". Number two it's smoked and yes that makes it delicious but it also means it's full of amines (which make it taste great) but means it's not good for skin that's prone to eczema.
So there you have it - my first attempt at sushi - it went quite well I think but there's still heaps for me to learn. I realised too that night that there's no way I could create the baby sushi - such a fine layer of rice and thin slither of protein in the middle - that won't be happening any time soon. She'll have to stick to my giant versions for now.
Take care everyone, Rebecca
