Making sushi

On new years eve we made sushi at my mom and Jürgen's house in Germany. It's not difficult to make and can be fun to do with friends. To make sushi at home you need:

sushi rice
nori sheets
fillings - we had cucumber, avo and fish
and wasabi, ginger and soya sauce to serve it with.
Bamboo mat and plastic wrap for rolling.

Cook the sushi rice according to the instructions on the packet. Start early because you need the rice to cool down before you can start.

Cover your bamboo rolling mat with some plastic wrap to prevent the (very sticky) rice from sticking to the mat. Place a nori sheet on the mat. I've since read that you can cut (or fold and break) the sheet in half.

Cover the nori sheet with rice, leaving about a cm at the furthest end free.

We kept it basic and added fish,

cucumber

and avo.

Then start rolling. It takes some getting used to. You have to kind of pull the mat ahead a bit so it doesn't get rolled up as well.

When you get to the end, wet your fingers and rub some water across the free edge of the nori. This will make it stick.

Finish rolling. And give it a good squeeze to get it shaped nicely and keep everything from falling apart.

Remove the bamboo mat and plastic.

For slicing you need the sharpest knife you can find. And wet the blade slightly after each slice. It will help you to slice neatly and prevent the rice from sticking to you knife.

Don't forget to serve it with wasabi, pickled ginger and soya sauce.

And eat as much as you can!

Salmon with mango salsa

My mom sent me this recipe which she got from the weight watchers website, so enjoy (in moderation) as it probably means it is less fattening! (The potato wedges aren't from weight watchers, but at least they were oven baked!)

For the marinade:

- 2 T red curry paste

- 4 T plain yoghurt

- Pepper

Mix together and place fish in marinade for at least half an hour.

For the salsa:

- 1 Small mango

- 1 Red onion

- 1/4 Gherkin

- Chili to taste

- 4 T Fresh mint

- 1 t Lemon juice

Finely chop all the ingredients for the salsa and mix.

Grill salmon 6-8 min, turning once. Serve with salsa and a wedge of fresh lemon. Don't be like me and only remember about the already cut lemon wedges still lying on the counter when we've just about finished the fish!! I always forget something!

Poached salmon

Tonight I cooked salmon for the very first time! And it turned out great :-) I never cook fish. Mainly because I don't know what to do with it. The only fish we ever eat is tuna from a can and the smoked salmon my mom brought us a few weekends ago which I loved!

When one of the dinners on my sister's healthy menu she set up for me said salmon I started thinking I should give it a try. Then last week André came home from work (and I always ask him what he had for lunch because they get the most delicious sounding lunches at work) and he told me about the salmon he had which was so good. One of his co-workers actually told him how they just cook it in some veggie stock. That didn't sound to hard.

So here's what I did tonight: I bought two salmon fillets in a weight watchers package because it looked like a good size, it looked clean and neat and not like a fish or a used-to-be fish. And an added bonus - it's from weight watchers so it should be even less fattening!

Once in the kitchen with the frying pan out, I started feeling a bit more creative. I got the veggie stock to a boil and then added chopped onion, garlic, red pepper and broccoli.

I let that simmer for a bit, then moved it to the sides of the pan and added the salmon. 6 min on one side then about another 3 min on the other side and it was done.

André wanted some oven baked fries so I had that going in the oven as well as a sweet potato which I wrapped in foil and baked for an hour. Delicious! I love sweet potato.

And here it is! (This is Andre's plate, his looked better with all those fries!)

Now I plan to do salmon once a week and try a different recipe each time.

Salmon & Avo salad

When my mom came to visit a few weekends ago she brought me some smoked salmon and also an Afrikaans magazine from South Africa, rooi rose. This recipe is from this magazine. I was again too hungry to think of taking a picture of my delicious salad but here is the picture from the magazine:

And here's what you need for this salad:

Avocado

Smoked salmon

1 tin Mandarin slices, drained. (I couldn't find this, then found it last week but I've finished the salmon..)

1 tin grapefruit slices, drained. (I used a fresh grapefruit.)

Chopped pistachio nuts

Fresh watercress

Arrange on serving plate.

For the dressing, mix:

20 ml (4t) orange juice

60 ml (1/4 c) olive oil

5 ml (1t) Dijon mustard

2.5 ml (1/2t) ground ginger

Grated rind of one orange

5 ml (1t) fresh thyme