Wasabi-fried Eggplant and Avocado Sushi Rolls

Sushi is the perfect party food - it's pretty, colourful, filling and adaptable to whatever you want to put in it! It's also a very fun thing to make with friends. It's lovely to spend some quality time with friends, one prepares the sushi rice while another prepares all the fillings. Then you can roll them up together while another fried slices them up and arranges them on a plate. Easy and great fun, after all, cooking with people is much more fun the cooking for people!

I've been experimenting with new and delicious sushi fillings recently, and this is the first of several you'll be seeing from me. Sushi just feels like perfect spring fare, so I've been having a hankering for good sushi lately. This one didn't disappoint. Now, I know that wasabi isn't everybody's cup of tea, so to speak, but don't fear that. Honestly, I'm not much keen on it myself, however, the wasabi in this is not too strong, and I personally loved it. So if you're not a wasabi lover, don't be deterred - you will still love this! If you are a wasabi lover on the other hand, then I encourage you to double the quantity of wasabi!

Wasabi-fried Eggplant and Avocado Sushi Rolls

Ingredients:

1 quantity sushi rice

6 sheets nori seaweed

4 thin asian-style eggplants, cut into strips

1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp sake (optional)

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

11/2 tsp wasabi (use 2-3 if you love wasabi)

1 avocado, cut into strips

You will also need:

A sushi rolling mat

A bowl of water with a dash of rice vinegar

To Assemble:

1.  Heat the oil in a frypan and add the eggplant strips.

2. Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, wasabi and sake (if using) in a small cup or bowl and mix well to completely dissolve the wasabi. Pour over the eggplant strips and fry for 5-7 minutes, turning frequently. The eggplant slices should be soft and slightly charred. Remove and drain on some absorbent paper towel.

3. Lay a sheet of nori seaweed on your sushi rolling mat. Wet your hands in the bowl of water (this stops the rice sticking all over your hands) and grab a handful of rice (about 2/3 cup worth, but you don’t need to measure it out). Spread it over the nori sheet evenly, making sure you spread it out to all the edges as well but leaving about an inch or so at one end.

4. Place a couple of pieces of eggplant and some slices of avocado along the middle of the rice.

5. Lift up the edge of the mat (not the edge with the inch of nori left bare) and, rolling away from you, roll the mat over once whilst gently pressing on the ingredients in the centre with your fingers to hold them in place. You should have rolled over all the rice and only have the bit of nori you left bare showing. Press gently on the roll to make the sushi roll neat and firm.

6. Wet the edge of the nori with a bit of water (to make it stick easier) and roll the sushi that last little bit (being careful not to roll the mat up with it). Press again gently into either a circle or square shape.

7. Repeat steps 3-6 until all ingredients are used up (should be about 6 rolls).

8. Use a very sharp knife to cut each log into eight equal pieces, dip the knife into the bowl of water to prevent it sticking to the rice as you cut. Serve immediately with soy sauce to dip.

Makes 6 sushi rolls, feeds about 4.