Despite the fact that sushi by definition – as I am sure the majority of you are well aware of – is a mixture of cooked japonica rice and sushi vinegar, it never ceases to amaze me how so many people continue to insist on labelling sushi as raw fish.
First off, shame on you for misrepresenting our poor little friend Mr. Sushi; I mean what on earth has the little guy ever done to you, besides provide you with a continual and delicious source of savoury umami goodness.
And secondly, can’t you see that by purporting this fallacy you are inadvertently stopping millions – if not billions (granted perhaps a slightly over exaggerated figure) – from enjoying the heavenly and delectable non fishy pleasures that sushi has to offer… and that is not to mention all of its wonderful additional health benefits. For instance, did you know that sushi is a great source of slow release carbohydrates and that it is almost always gluten free (I say almost always since it depends on whether any soy sauce has been applied, and if so what type)… But don’t get me started on people dunking their sushi into soy sauce as if it were a biscuit drowned in tea!
Plus I am sure you have all heard about the plummeting fish stocks around the globe.
Evidently, it is time for us to start exploring a world of sushi outside of the ubiquitous salmon and tuna nigiri sushi that we seem to see everywhere and keep telling ourselves that we ‘can’t live without’. I am sure if we were to ask the fish what they couldn’t live without, it would most likely be ‘our eating of fish’!
Which brings me to today’s topic.
To celebrate all that is wonderful (and not fishy) in the world of sushi, we were asked by none other than Crumbs Magazine to host a 3 course sushi luncheon at the famous Lahloo Pantry in Bristol last week.
Below is a series of images from the event including brief descriptions of each type of sushi that we created for this strictly no fish sushi event!
Starter:
European Sushi with a ‘Clearspring’ organic brown rice miso soup.
For the main course we served two types of futomaki (fat roll) and three types of uramaki (inside out roll). Fillings included asparagus, chicken goujons marinated in soy sauce, shredded carrot, takuan (pickled radish), salad leaves, red pepper, avocado, mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, fresh wasabi, cucumber, chives and cress.
Alongside the main dish was a selection of sides. A chicken, lettuce, and red pepper caterpillar roll topped with a hint of spicy mayonnaise atop of the thinly splayed avocado slices (above), and some salad leaves carrying julienned carrot, avocado and cucumber mixed with a sushi vinegar and soy sauce dressing (below).
Below are some pictures of the other side dishes that we served with the main that day.
Desert:
A simple sweet edo-style nigiri sushi with fresh strawberry slices and a hint of butter chocolate cream alongside a single raspberry and blackberry served with a light and refreshing pot of Lahloo Japanese sencha (green tea).
