N is for Nori

The letter C had vegetables emerging from every corner. But the letter N has taken a lot of coaxing. I sent a group email around the office to generate more inspiration. Other office emails invite people to share a pint in the pub or join a football team. Mine have become rather narrow in their focus. But my colleagues are tolerant. Putting aside the comments that I needed therapy or a holiday, (do they not realise that cooking all these vegetables is better than therapy?), they suggested neeps, nuts, nori and nopales. I rejected nuts as they aren't vegetables. The Scottish dish of neeps will have to feature later on under S for Suede.But nori and nopales intrigued me.

Nori used to be a more general term for various kinds of seaweed but nowadays it usually refers to the thin dried seaweed sheets that are used in some sushi dishes. It starts off life as a reddish coloured plant that is made into these dark green paper sheets. Like the Japanese, we decided to hold our very own nori day. I found a ‘Make Your Own Sushi Kit’ in a health food store. ‘Make Your Own’ kits always make me nervous. It is never as easy as the label suggests. So I handed it over to Freddie and Alex who are far less jaded. The kit came complete with a bamboo sushi rolling mat, sushi rice and crisp paper sheets of nori. They made three fillings: cucumber, tuna mayonnaise and avocado. The end result was impressive for two first time sushi chefs.

 

 

If any of you have any ideas for Nori, let us know...