Rachel Khoo: sushi hand rolls

I had quite a few jobs in Paris before hitting the jackpot and writing cookbooks. One of them was peeling vegetables and prepping other veggie delights at Bob’s Juice Bar. The formula was simple (fresh juices, a couple of muffins, vegetable soups), but for the French, not so used to lunch on the go and more at home with the prix fixe three-course bistrot menus, this modest juice bar was a revelation. Among the offerings were brown rice veggie sushi rolls. These make excellent packed lunches. Instead of cutting them into chunks for dipping, I keep the roll whole and tuck the condiments inside so you don’t even have the fuss of packing them up.

Sushi hand rolls

Makes 3 maki

250g sushi rice

2 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1 carrot

½ small cucumber

3 radishes

1 spring onion

100g smoked tofu

3 nori sheets

1 tbsp wasabi paste

1 tbsp pickled ginger

Put the sushi rice in a medium lidded saucepan. Add 350ml cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on, before taking off the heat. Set aside for a further 15 minutes with the lid on (don’t be tempted to remove it early). Spread out the rice in a baking dish to cool. Dress with the rice vinegar.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. Peel and cut the carrot into thin matchsticks. Cut the cucumber in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds.

Cut into matchsticks like the carrot. Cut the radishes into matchsticks along with the spring onion and tofu.

Place a sheet of nori, shiny side down, on a sushi rolling mat. Spread out one third of the rice evenly across the sheet, leaving about 3cm exposed at the opposite end from the one you are rolling up. Alternate the strips of ingredients horizontally across the rice and spread on some of the wasabi paste and some of the pickled ginger. Then roll up with the guidance of the mat. Repeat with the remaining nori sheets and rice.

Wrap up for lunch on the move, or munch right away.