Spring Spiral High Tea

Corn and Red Pepper Sushi; Tamari Dipping Sauce; Radish and Celery Relish with Miso; Wasabi Hummus Pinwheel Sandwiches and Coconut Lime Banoffee Pie

This fusion approach to a traditional British meal is popping with flavour.

NB:  The coconut milk tin and the custard carton need to be kept in the fridge overnight.

Corn and Red Pepper Sushi with Dipping Sauce and Relish

This makes a lot of sushi, so you’ll be able have some for tomorrow’s lunch.  It is a pared down, inauthentic version obviously, but it is so tasty and very therapeutic to make.

Ingredients

250g sushi rice

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

generous pinch of salt

2 tsp ginger paste

1 red pepper

half a 135g packet of baby corn

Method

1. Put the rice into a saucepan with about 650ml of water.  Bring to the boil, then immediately turn the heat down to the smallest flame, cover, and cook gently for about 15 minutes – but check before then that it hasn’t boiled dry.  If it looks as if it might, add boiling water from the kettle.  Once the rice is soft, stir in the ginger paste, rice vinegar and salt.  Cover the pan again.  Allow the rice to cool and absorb the flavours.
2. Cut the pepper into long, thin strips strips.  Cut the baby corn vertically twice, so you have slender pieces.
3. Prepare for the rolling: if you have a sushi mat (you can buy one in ASDA for £1.28 at the time of writing), that’s great, but if not, you can use a sheet of cling film or a flattened clean polythene bag.  Lay whichever implement flat, then have the rice and vegetables on one side and a little bowl of warm water and a cloth on the other.  Wash your hands and you’re ready.
4. Put a sheet of nori on the mat and spoon about 4 dessertspoons of sticky rice on the top.  Spread it all over the nori with your fingers, leaving a margin of about 1cm all around the edges.  Rinse and wipe your hands, then change the water.
5. Dip your finger in the water and draw a line along the edge opposite you.  Lay the strips of corn and pepper about 1 cm from the edge nearest to you, then roll the nori sheet up by gently pushing it with the mat or polythene.   Give the roll a little squeeze when you reach the end, so that the nori sticks.  Trim both ends, cut the sushi into 2cm little logs and admire your handiwork.
6. Repeat this process until the rice, vegetables and hopefully the nori (but it will keep) are all used up.

Tamari Dipping Sauce

Whisk together thoroughly about 4 tbs of tamari with 1 tbs of rice vinegar and 1 tsp ginger paste.

Radish and Celery Relish with Miso

Fairly finely chop two celery stalks and six radishes.  Whisk 2 tbs rice vinegar in a bowl with 1tsp soft brown sugar and 1tbs miso, then pour over the vegetables.

Wasabi Hummus and Cress Pinwheel Sandwiches

1. First make the hummus by processing 1/2 tsp wasabi paste, 2 tins of chickpeas, 3 tbs olive oil, 3 tbs water, 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, the juice plus zest of a lemon, salt and pepper, until you have a fairly thick puree.  If you want it thinner, you could always add a little water and process again.
2. Cut an unsliced loaf of white bread horizontally, then spread the slices with the hummus.  Sprinkle on the cress from one box, then roll each slice up.  (If you like tighter spirals, flatten and stretch the bread with a rolling pin first until it is thinner).

Coconut Lime Banoffee Pie

Ingredients

1 carton of vegan custard

1 banana, sliced thinly

2 heaped tsp soft brown sugar

1 tin of full fat coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 lime

2 tsp plain chocolate vermicelli

200g packet of gingernut biscuits (usually vegan; check ingredients)

Method

NB  The coconut milk tin and the custard carton need to be kept in the fridge overnight.

1. Carefully remove the peel from the lime with a very sharp knife or potato peeler; set the curls to one side.  (You’ll be juicing the lime later so you’ll need to do this first).
2. Remove the tin of coconut milk from the fridge and spoon the cream into a bowl, leaving about 70ml of the separated liquid in the bottom (this will be about a quarter of the way up the tin).  Blitz the biscuits into crumbs in the food processor then squeeze in the juice of one half of the lime.   Re-start the food processor then, keeping the motor running, add the coconut liquid gradually until the mixture starts to clump.  Press this into a small pie plate or dish that you intend serving from.
3. Juice the other half of the lime, then whisk it with the soft brown sugar.  Whisk this into the custard, then mix in the sliced banana.  Spoon over the biscuit base.
4. Whisk your coconut cream with the vanilla essence until it thickens, then gently spread it across the custard layer, fluffing it up as you go.  Top with the lime curls and the sprinkles.

Based on a Morrison’s shop, this cost around £21.77, without taking offers into account, so you could shave £1.27 off the bill because at the time of writing sushi rice, nori and wasabi paste are all reduced to £1 each.  However, I could not find miso or vegan chocolate sprinkles at my branch (you may be luckier) so I have factored in the cost of these items found at ASDA (£2 and 88p respectively).   I have included every ingredient except oil, so if you have run out of this you’ll need to add approximately £1.30 for a small bottle of olive oil.