RICE, COURGETTES, PICKLED VEGETABLES

Quietly pleasing. Frugal • If some rice has stuck to the bottom of the pan during cooking, empty out the rest of the rice, then pour a little water into the pan, bring to the boil and leave it for a minute or two. The rice will be easy to remove. • The shavings of courgettes soften in the residual heat of the cooked rice. You could stir in a few other good ingredients instead. Chopped tomatoes that you have marinated briefly in olive oil and basil. French beans, lightly cooked and cut into short lengths or, better still, thin batons of cucumber tossed with a little rice wine vinegar and a few nigella seeds.

Good

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Wash the sushi rice in a bowl of warm water, pour off the water and repeat. Tip the rice into a medium-sized saucepan, pour in 300ml of water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat so the water is simmering, add half a teaspoon of salt, then cover with a lid and leave to cook for fifteen minutes. Trim the courgettes, then, using a vegetable peeler, remove slices in long, thin shavings. Toss the slices in the sesame oil and season lightly with salt. Roughly chop the Japanese pickled vegetables. Shred the pickled ginger. Roughly chop the basil and coriander leaves. When the rice is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and leave to rest for five minutes, still covered by its lid. Remove the lid and fold the raw courgettes, chopped pickles and ginger, basil and coriander into the rice with a fork. Stir in the dried seaweed flakes and rice vinegar and season to taste.