Japanese Rice with Nori Recipe

Ingredients :

Serves 4
Preparation time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : 15 minutes

• 225g (7½oz) Japanese sushi or glutinous rice

• 2 tablespoons black or white sesame seeds

• 1 teaspoon coarse salt

• 1 tablespoon groundnut or vegetable oil

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 4 spring onions, finely sliced

• 1 red chili, deseeded and sliced

• 4 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

• 2 teaspoons caster sugar

• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

• 25g (1oz) pickled Japanese ginger

• 2 sheets of roasted nori (seaweed)

Method :

1. Put the rice in a saucepan with 400ml (14fl oz) water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Cover the pan and set aside for a further 5 minutes until the rice is cooked.

2. Meanwhile, put the sesame seeds and salt in a frying pan and heat gently about 2 minutes until the seeds are toasted. Remove and set aside.

3. Heat the oil in the pan, add the eggs and cook gently until just firm. Slide the omelette onto a plate, roll it up and cut it across into shreds.

4. Transfer the cooked rice to a bowl and stir in the spring onions, chili, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, ginger and half the toasted sesame seeds. Crumble 1 sheet of nori over the rice and stir in with the omelette shreds.

5. Transfer to a serving dish. Crumble the remaining nori over the rice, scatter with the remaining toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Variations :

For noodle & chicken salad, replace the rice with 200g (7oz) wheat and buckwheat noodles, cooked according to packet instructions. Omit the omelette and stir-fry 200g (8oz) shredded, cooked chicken in the oil instead.