Lemon Coconut Posset with Golden Cardamom Shortbread

I know what you're thinking....what the hell's posset?!?! I had never heard of it but I saw it in a recent Food and Wine magazine and thought it sounded nice and light, basically lemon curd and cream whipped up, much like a syllabub but without the wine or alcohol factor. I've been wanting to try coconut whipped cream for ages now so this seemed like the perfect dessert to try it with.

FIVE cans of coconut milk later, we got there! Sigh...despite following all online coconut whipped cream tutorials to a 'T' mine just wasn't whipping like in their photos. I used full fat coconut milk, chilled it overnight to separate, scooped out just the thick cream, chilled my mixer bowl and beater but it just wouldn't whip up fully, you certainly couldn't get little whipped peaks like in the photos. 

I eventually determined that it's all down to brands. The first 2 brands both didn't whip really well but I used them to make the posset anyway and it was still really good, just a little more "floppy" than I would have liked. Then I decided to skip out the middle man and use one of those cartons of coconut CREAM you can buy here in the grocery store. I didn't even have to chill it and it whipped up great, held together and gave a perfect texture for the posset. Yay!

The whipped coconut cream is whisked into a homemade citrus curd made with agar. I actually use lemon and orange juice here as I find the orange counters some of the lemony bitterness and simply adds a nice flavour. 

Altogether this is such a light, cool and incredibly creamy dessert, perfect for a light ending, particularly after a curry. It's very zingy and while the coconut flavour is definitely there, it's not overpowering. We all really loved this, including my son.

I decided to add a biscuit to this dessert as I think the change in texture is nice and it kind of finishes off the dessert. I saw this recipe for Golden Cardamom Shortbread in my Canadian Living magazine and thought the flavours would go wonderfully with the lemon-coconut posset. I don't use cardamom much at all, I've only threw in a couple pods into curries so it was all new territory really. 

First, I couldn't find ground cardamom anywhere. A quick search online indicated that it's actually quite expensive so that may be why! Thankfully the pods are cheap, I already had a jar, and I do have a spice grinder, so I made my own. If you have a spice grinder I highly recommend it as this came out so incredibly fragrant and was really very easy.

In the end, I love these biscuits, the cardamom does give them a slightly more exotic taste, like a citrusy spicy ginger which goes wonderfully with the coconut posset, I tend to crumble them on top of the posset as I eat it! That being said, if you don't like cardamom or are unsure about it, simply replace with 1/4 tsp cinnamon or a little ground ginger.

Lemon Coconut Posset

Serves 4 - 6.

• 80ml fresh lemon juice, sieved

• 80ml orange juice, no pulp, I found bottled better here

• 1 Tbsp agar flakes

• 100g (1/2 cup) golden caster sugar

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• 250ml carton coconut cream, or the equivalent from chilled cans.

• 1/2 cup icing sugar

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

First make the curd: In a saucepan add the lemon juice, orange juice and sugar. Stir off the heat for a few minutes, just so it's well mixed and the sugar can start to soften. Sprinkle over the agar flakes and let sit for 1 minute. Give it a good stir then turn the heat on and bring to the boil stirring now and again. When it comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer for 3 - 5 minutes, until the sugar and agar have dissolved.

Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool and set, once cool enough place in the fridge for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.

Now it should be set but once you give it a good stir it should be like lemon curd in consistency. I have always found at this point that it has little gelatine like balls in it, and who wants little hard bits in their dessert? No one. That's who. So take a fine sieve and push the curd through it to get it nice and smooth. Make sure you scrape any smooth curd clinging to the underside of the sieve when you are done. Now you should have a small bowl of smooth curd, pop it back in the fridge.

If you are using boxed coconut cream simply add the 250 ml carton to a mixer bowl and whip up, adding the icing sugar and vanilla halfway through. If you are chilling cans of coconut milk you will need about 250 ml of cream from the cans, one can should suffice but you may want to chill 2 just in case.

Now take your curd out of the fridge and whisk in about 1/2 cup of the coconut whipped cream until smooth. Now scrape the curd mixture into the coconut whipped cream and whisk really well. Spoon the mixture into serving bowls, whatever you like, I used my martini glasses here and got 3 servings but to be fair, they are a bit big, four servings would a better amount, or even up to 6. I like to pop them back in the fridge to chill and set a little more, although, you can eat them now.

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Golden Cardamom Shortbread

• 100g (1/2 cup) vegan butter

• 50g (1/4 cup packed) brown sugar

• 100g (3/4 cup) plain flour

• 2 Tbsp cornstarch

• 2 Tbsp rice flour

• 3/4 tsp freshly ground cardamom or 1/4 tsp cinnamon or ginger.

• granulated sugar

• gold edible dusting lustre - optional

First, if you are grinding your own cardamom it really is very simple. You want to grind just the seeds from inside the pods, I just smashed them with the side of a wide bladed knife and split them open.

Here are the pods on the left with the seeds from inside on the right.

Place the seeds in a spice grinder.

And grind until it is fine in texture, it's really quick :-)

Now, in a small bowl add the flour, cornstarch, rice flour and ground cardamom and whisk well. In a large bowl add the vegan butter and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 2 additions, beating well after each addition.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper and preheat the oven to a low 150C. Pack the dough into a tablespoon measure then scoop out and roll into a ball. Repeat until all the dough is gone, keeping them on a chopping board or plate.

Now roll each ball into some granulated sugar and place on the baking sheet a little apart from each other. I got my little design here from the bottom of a crystal rose bowl I have:

I just dipped the underside of the rose bowl into the sugar then pressed each cookie giving it the pretty design. A lot of wine glasses have decorative bottoms so you could use that too! 

Now pop them in the preheated oven and back for 30 minutes. Let them cool on the sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to fully cool.

If you like you can dust them with some edible gold lustre, mine's by sugarflair and happened to be vegan, I used a new clean little eyeshadow brush and just dusted a little bit on. To be honest I wouldn't bother doing it again though, it was mostly for the picture ;-) As you can see they are just as nice and sparkly without the E-numbers!

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Nutritional Information

Lemon Coconut Posset                                  

(Based on 1 serving out of 4)                                                                                 

Calories: 293                                                                   

Fat: 12.1g                                                                             

Sat Fat: 9.9g                                                                       

Protein: 2.4g                                                                   

Fibre: 0.3g                                                                          

Carbs: 45.3g                                                                       

Sugar: 42.1g                                                                       

Sodium: 2.9mg

Golden Cardamom Shortbread

 (Based on 1 shortbread)

Calories: 92

Fat: 4.4g

Sat Fat: 1g

Protein: 0.9g

Fibre: 0.3g

Carbs: 12g                                                              

Sugar: 3.7g

Sodium: 47.8g

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Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookie Bars

These actually started off as something altogether different: vegan millionaire's shortbread. I tried this recipe here but sadly, my caramel layer did not turn out. I got an almost crispy fudge layer instead but it was still delicious! What we all loved about it though was the melt in the mouth shortbread layer with the chocolate so I thought I would simply combine the two in an easy to make bar. 

These have been very popular with us lately, once, I replaced the vanilla with almond extract for a dark chocolate almond bar - which was very good too. They get the melt in the mouth texture from the cornstarch, in the same way melting moments or Mexican wedding cakes do and while they hold together just fine I still wouldn't recommend packing these in a lunch or to send away as gifts :-)

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookie Bars

• 150g vegan butter
• 75g golden caster sugar
• 150g plain flour
• 150g cornstarch (cornflour)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 150g plain vegan chocolate (semi-sweet) chopped or use chips.

Preheat the oven to 200C and line an 11.5" x 8" jelly roll pan with baking paper.  Place everything but the chocolate into a food processor and process until you have a crumbly mixture. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chocolate chips. Tip the mixture into the pan and press down until it fills the pan and is even. Bake for 12 minutes and cool on a wire rack. Slice into 16 bars.

Source: Based on The Veggie Blog's Millionaire's Shortbread.

Nutritional Information: based on 1 bar out of 16

Calories: 184
Protein: 1.5g
Fat: 8.4g
Sat Fat: 3.1g
Carbs: 25.2g
Sugar: 9.2g
Fibre: 1g
Sodium: 9.2mg

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Vegan Chicken and Macaroni Salad Lettuce Wraps

I saw something very similar to these on Pinterest the other day. I forgot to pin it so cannot say where the idea came from but the original was with orzo pasta. As I was having troubles finding orzo.....ok, I only looked in 1 shop and was too impatient to try this, so I used macaroni instead! 

By the way, quick question regarding Pinterest for those of you who follow me: do you like me pinning my own stuff, by that I mean new recipes, or is that annoying as hell? I'm on the fence on this one. If you have a feeling one way or the other, please let me know!

Anyway, any small pasta shape will do here but I can see orzo working really well. The recipe I saw wasn't vegetarian so I didn't even click on it but I knew immediately how I would make it - with my Vegan Chicken Salad Recipe, which I haven't blogged on here yet, it's over on the Daily Food Blog where I like to stick more "simple" recipes. 

I usually have it (obviously) without the pasta stuffed into a wholemeal pitta with lettuce and tomato, it's one of my favourite lunches but I really like this twist. It was also most welcome recently as I've been consuming far too much bread lately, yes, I'm a carboholic! And even though this isn't free of carbs with the pasta there, it's at least a little break from the bread :-)

The little gem lettuce cups and a fresh squirt of lemon juice make this a most crisp and refreshing lunch, really light feeling and so easy to make. I was hesitant in calling these wraps however, as you can see they are more "cups" but you do kind of wrap them as you eat them, so we'll stick with that ;-)

Vegan Chicken and Macaroni Salad Lettuce Wraps

Serves 1 as a meal.

• 40g vegan chicken strips, I used Fry's.
• 1/2 tsp oil to fry
• 30g vegan mayo, (2 Tbsp) I use Plamil Organic.
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped.
• 1/4 stalk of celery, diced small.
• 25g small pasta, dry weight, about 1/4 cup
• 4 baby gem lettuce leaves
• sea salt (I like smoked here) and freshly ground black pepper
• dijon mustard - optional
• lemon slices - optional

Heat the oil in a small frying pan and fry the chicken strips for 6 - 8 minutes from frozen or according to your brand's instructions. Set aside to cool slightly then finely chop.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions then rinse well under cold water until cool, toss in a clean tea towel to get all excess water off and transfer to a bowl.

Mix together the mayo, spring onion, celery, a pinch of sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper in a small bowl. Add the chicken and pasta and mix well. Season to taste.

Wash and pat dry the lettuce leaves then brush them with a little dijon mustard. Optional, but nice. Fill the lettuce leaves with the filling and serve with slices or wedges of lemon to squirt over before eating. Again, it's optional, but nice! 

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Nutritional Information: based on the whole recipe, depending on brand of vegan chicken used.

Calories: 367

Protein: 12.4g

Fat: 23.3g

Sat Fat: 4.2g

Fibre: 4.2g

Carbs: 27.2g

Sugar: 2.4g

Sodium: 494mg

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Sun-Dried Tomato and White Bean Spread with Black Olive Rye Bread

This is a lovely spread, or dip, perfect in sandwiches and oh so easy to make! As much as it looks like a houmous it isn't really, there's no tahini or any other nut or seed paste here and I've used cannellini beans as they give a smoother texture than chick peas would, especially without the tahini. For the sun-dried tomato element I have used a store bought tube of sun-dried tomato puree that I use quite often. It's not pure sun-dried tomato but rather has 65% sun-dried tomatoes, sunflower oil, olive oil, capers, hot chillies, oregano, garlic, salt and wine vinegar. (If you live in the UK or Ireland it's Epicure Sun-Dried Tomato Puree.) This doesn't make this recipe product specific however, you could easily just use straight sun-dried tomato puree and maybe adjust the seasoning as you see fit, but I'm sure it'll be just as yummy! I further add some chopped sun-dried tomatoes (the type packed in oil) to add some texture.

For me, this spread was just calling out for some olive bread. I thought I had a recipe for an "Olive Boule" in one of my Canadian Living Holiday Special Magazines and sure enough it was there! I was so happy to see it was a rye based olive bread as well as I was thinking rye flour would be perfect here. It's a slightly longer process bread in that you make a sponge first, let that sit overnight, then make the bread but is really worth it. The flavour and texture in this bread is so good and just goes beautifully with the sun-dried tomato spread.

Sun-Dried Tomato and White Bean Spread

1 x 400g can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 Tbsp sun-dried tomato puree - see note above.
about 2 Tbsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 + 1/8 tsp salt*
2 Tbsp water

Place the beans, puree, garlic, salt, lemon juice and oil in a food processor and process until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides then add the water and process again until really smooth. Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and pulse until mixed in. Transfer to a serving dish and refrigerate.

* I would start with 1/8 tsp of salt and add to taste from there as different brands of puree and beans will have different salt levels. I use unsalted beans packed just in water for reference.

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Black Olive Rye Bread

I followed the Black Olive Boule Recipe on the Canadian Living website with the following notes:

♥ I used strong white bread flour instead of all-purpose.
♥ I used quick rise yeast.
♥ I used olives packed in brine as I couldn't find oil packed but I lightly brushed some olive oil over the dough ball once the olives are kneaded in so that the ones on top wouldn't dry out.
♥ I only cooked mine for 30 minutes BUT this was a mistake, as you might be able to see in the photo there my middle could have done with longer. Maybe 40 - 45 minutes but I still think 55 minutes would be a bit too long.
♥ Instead of spritzing the inside of the oven with water I placed a tray of water in the bottom of my oven and I did end up with a lovely crisp and chewy crust.
♥ I brushed some vegan butter all over the hot crust when I took it out of the oven. It gives a lovely gloss and great flavour :-)

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Pan Grilled Chive Polenta Wedges with Sizzling Garlic Mushrooms

So, this is the dish that finally won my husband over when it comes to polenta. Up till now I've been the only one in the house who liked it and as such never got to have it that much, as you can see, this is the first polenta dish on the blog! To be fair I could probably add sizzling garlic butter mushrooms to any dish and he'd be won over but I'm glad it was this one ;-) It took a couple goes to get the quantity of polenta right here and to learn how to get the grill marks without the polenta sticking like glue to the pan (patience, you just need patience!) But it's all come together now. The crispy fried polenta with that garlic butter soaking in is heavenly, and don't be too alarmed by the amount of vegan butter in this, it's actually still a calorie wise dish :-)

Pan Grilled Chive Polenta Wedges with Sizzling Garlic Mushrooms

Serves 4 as a light meal.

150g polenta
600ml vegetable stock
2 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped (or 4 tsp dried)
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400g whole mushrooms
80g vegan butter
4 cloves garlic, pureed
1/2 tsp dried parsley or 1 tsp chopped fresh
salt and pepper

(Note - you will need to follow the instructions on your pack of polenta here as they vary wildly. The polenta I use is a "quick cook" variety, ready in 1 minute for soft or 5 minutes for firm polenta. I'll give the instructions for mine anyway in case you have the same type, otherwise just follow package instructions adding the chives during simmering. As for the vegetable stock, I use Marigold Vegan Organic Bouillon and add 2 1/2 tsp to the 600ml water.)

Mix the polenta and chives together. Bring the vegetable stock to the boil then add the polenta in a slow steady stream, whisking all the while. Once all is added, swap to a wooden spoon and stir all the while for 5 minutes. Transfer to an 8" round cake tin that has been greased with olive oil and press in well using a square of baking paper. Put aside to set for about 1/2 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 200C. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms but keep (I now roughly chop these as well). Arrange the mushroom caps in an oven safe dish and scatter the stalks around. In a small bowl mix together the vegan butter, garlic, parsley and a couple grinds of salt and pepper. Fill the mushrooms caps with the butter mixture and dot any extra around. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes giving the dish a shake a couple times. If at any point the mushrooms are looking dry, dot a few blobs of butter around the dish - the water content in mushrooms can vary hugely and I sometimes have to do this.

Back to the polenta: run a knife around the edges of the tin then turn over onto a chopping board and tap the bottom, the polenta should pop out. Slice into 8 wedges. Note - you can wrap up the wedges now and refrigerate to fry up when you like.

Preheat a grill pan till hot then brush the wedges on top generously with olive oil.  Place oil side down onto the hot pan and grill. Now. This takes longer than you think it will, if you are impatient and try to flip the wedges you'll find they stick to the pan. Just wait until the grill marks form a crust then they should be easy to flip, although, you still may need to loosen them slightly with a knife. (Alternatively, if you are not fussed about grill marks, you can just  fry these in a greased non-stick frying pan with no stickage at all!)

Place 2 of the wedges onto a plate then place some of the mushrooms over top and scatter some of the stalks. Spoon some of the garlic butter left in the pan and drizzle over the wedges. Serve with a lemon wedge and some fresh parsley. Squirt the lemon wedge over the dish just before eating, it goes lovely with the flavours in this.

 ♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving

Calories: 271

Protein: 7.1g

Fat: 12.4g

Sat Fat: 2.7g

Fibre: 3.9g

Carbs: 34g

Sugar: 2.1g

Sodium: 752mg (will depend on stock used)

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Banana Doughnuts with Peanut Butter Glaze

So, those of you who read the daily blog will know I've gone a bit doughnut mad lately! This started off wanting to re-make my original doughnuts without the egg replacer - something I no longer use. The first attempt was only ok but a bit chewy - this was mostly my fault in overcooking them. This led to me thinking about banana as an egg replacer and simply making banana doughnuts. The obvious glaze that came to mind here was a peanut butter glaze - and that stuff is amazing!! If you are not into doughnuts (!) I would still highly recommend pouring this glaze over a loaf of banana bread. That would be stunning!

Now my son is never overly keen on peanut butter flavoured things so I also made these with a chocolate glaze. It's the same chocolate glaze I used on the original doughnut post and works equally well with the banana doughnut.

I further started to think about filled doughnuts, as I had jam filled ones in the original post and only one filling came to mind for a banana flavoured doughnut - nutella. These were stunning! Now, I have cheated here and used store bought vegan nutella. Yes, we are very lucky here in Ireland as Spar's own label hazelnut spread is "accidentally vegan" AND cheaper than Nutella :-) But, there are loads of recipes out there for vegan nutella for you to use.

Banana Doughnuts with Peanut Butter Glaze

Yields 12 ring doughnuts

1 x 7g sachet quick rise yeast

400g flour

180ml / 3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk

50g / 1/4 cup vegan butter

56g / 1/4 cup golden caster sugar

130g / 1/2 cup mashed very ripe bananas

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp nutmeg - optional

1/4 tsp salt

vegetable oil to fry

Heat the soy milk, vegan butter and sugar in a saucepan until the butter melts and sugar dissolves, stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer to another bowl and let cool to between 130F. Best to use a cooking thermomenter here, if not, you want it hand hot. The liquid when using quick rise yeast should be between 120 - 130F which is hotter than when using active dry yeast.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, yeast, salt and nutmeg. Pour the milk mixture over and stir well, add the banana and fold in well. The mixture will be somewhat wet here and you should have a shaggy dough. Sprinkle a bit of flour on a surface and add the dough, gently knead, adding a bit more flour until you just have a manageable dough and can shape it into a smooth ball. Resist the temptation to add too much extra flour here, you don't want a dry dough.

Grease a large bowl and add the dough, cover with cling film and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Punch the dough down, knead a couple times then roll out 1/2" thick. Cut out doughnut shapes with a doughnut cutter, or fashion your own! For the filled doughnuts simply shape into flattish balls. Re-roll scraps and cut our more shapes until it is all used. Place the doughnuts on a floured baking sheet lined with baking paper, cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1/2 hour.

Now, get your glazes ready and get the oil on to fry.

Peanut Butter Glaze

1/3 cup smooth peanut butter (80g)

1 cup icing sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla

about 3 Tbsp hot water

Mix the peanut butter together with the vanilla then add some of the hot water and mix, it will turn thick and grainy here but don't worry. Add the icing sugar and the rest of the water and mix well.

Chocolate Glaze

1 Tbsp vegan butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/8 tsp vanilla

20ml hot water (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp)

50g plain or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Add everything to a bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until it all comes together in a syrupy glaze. Transfer to another bowl to cool slightly and thicken up before glazing.

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Use a large high sided pot and fill half way up with oil, heat to 350F. Carefully transfer the doughnut to a heat safe spatula (do not use plastic!) and lower into the oil. As these doughnuts are quite soft, I found it easiest to cut around the baking paper the doughnut is lying on then flip it upside down onto the spatula and remove the paper then lower into the oil. Fry each doughnut for about 1 or 2 minutes a side, until they are golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack covered in paper towels and repeat with the remaining doughnuts.

2013 Edit - Yes, I've just made these again and wanted to try them baked as some of you have asked if they can be. The answer is YES! After they are shaped and have had their second rise remove the cling film, give them a spray with cooking spray and pop into a preheated 200C oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown and well risen, mine took 12 minutes.They turned out really well, great flavour and texture, not sure I'll even bother deep frying again! Once out of the oven dip them while warm into the glazes.

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Give the glazes another good whisk then take a warm doughnut and dip the top into the glaze. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking paper and repeat with the remaining doughnuts. I found the peanut butter ones needed another dip once the first glaze set.

For the filled doughnuts, fill a pastry bag with a long nozzle with the nutella. Insert into the doughnut and move it around a bit to make room then squeeze the nutella in until it is coming out. Best to do these once the doughnuts cool so that the nutella doesn't turn to liquid. As you can guess, this happened to me :-)

Let the doughnuts fully cool and the glaze set then enjoy. These will keep only for a day or two before getting too dry. The next day we microwaved them for 20 seconds to get them warm and soft again :-) 

Also - the second time I made these it was summer and my kitchen was very hot. As a result, when I woke up the next morning the peanut butter glaze had melted off the doughnuts! The chocolate glaze was fine but just a note that if you have made these in a hot kitchen you should store the peanut butter ones in the fridge :-)

♥

Nutritional Information:

(based on 1 peanut butter glazed ring doughnut)

Calories: 303 (235 if you bake them)

Fat: 11.8g (5.3g if you bake them, rest of the figures are more or less the same.)

Sat Fat: 1.7g

Protein: 5.5g

Fibre: 2.1g

Carbs: 43.7g

Sugar: 16.5g

Sodium: 100mg

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Avocado, Lime and Carrot Maki Rolls

Now, you'll have to forgive me here as this is NOT a new recipe. It's already on the blog back in 2008 but was hidden away in a post titled "Anniversary Dinner" with a rather terrible photo! As this is one of our favourite recipes I felt it needed it's own post and a photographic makeover :-) 

These are just standard vegan maki rolls but I love the addition of fresh lime juice with the avocado and the sprinkling of black sesame seeds. These would be a good starting point if you are new to making sushi as they really are very easy with pretty standard flavours. That being said, I've never ventured from making anything other than these as we love them so much!

Avocado, Lime and Carrot Maki Rolls

Makes 12 or 16 rolls in total.

125g dry weight sushi rice (must be labeled sushi rice - no other)
180ml water
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 Tbsp mirin
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 sheets nori 
1/2 avocado, sliced and generously tossed in fresh lime juice.
carrot sticks
black sesame seeds
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Wasabi and Soy Sauce to serve (and pickled ginger if you like).

First, you may want to just follow the instructions for cooking the rice on your packet of sushi rice. I think every pack I have bought has had different instructions! These are simply the instructions for the pack I buy most often. Place the rice and water in a saucepan and put lid on. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for 15 minutes, do not lift lid. Whisk together the rice vinegar, mirin, sugar and salt until all dissolved. Tip rice into a large bowl and pour the dressing over then use a rubber spatula and fold the dressing in until rice is room temperature and texture changes to thick and sticky, be gentle as you don't want to crush the grains.

Place the nori onto a bamboo sushi rolling mat, shiny side down. Keep a bowl of cold water mixed with some rice vinegar nearby. Wet your hands in this. Place half the rice onto the mat leaving about and inch and a half bare at the other end. Press down with damp hands until evenly spread out then gently press down all over till nice and even then sprinkle with the black sesame seeds. 

Lay down the avocado and carrot sticks a little off centre. 

Using the mat, roll up, holding down fairly firmly, when you get to the end, wet the bare part of the nori with the vinegar water and finish rolling. Unroll the bamboo mat, transfer the 'log' to a cutting board and using a sharp, serrated knife that you've dipped in the vinegar water cut into 6 even pieces (or 8 for smaller maki).

Repeat with the other sheet of nori and leftover rice. Serve with wasabi and soy sauce.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 6 rolls, no dips.

Calories: 315

Fat: 7.1g

Sat Fat: 0.9g

Protein: 6.1g

Fibre: 4.6g

Carbs: 58.6g

Sugar: 3.7g

Sodium: 638mg

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