Sushi salad - Deconstructed sushi bowl

To make perfect sushi rice

1. Add the rice to a fine mesh sieve and rinse it under running cold tap water until the water runs completely clear. If you have a spray head on your tap, that works excellently for rinsing rice in a sieve. You can also rinse it in a bowl and on average it will need about three rinses.
2. Add the rinsed rice to a bowl and add just enough water to cover it. Let it soak for 30 minutes. Soaking allows the rice to absorb water right to the centre of each grain, which will result in even cooking.
3. Drain the rice and let it sit in the sieve over a bowl for 5 minutes to drain completely.
4. Add the rice to a saucepan along with the 330ml fresh cold water. Bring the water up to a simmer, cover tightly with the lid and turn the heat to low. Cook undisturbed for 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes, remove the saucepan from the heat and let the rice rest for a further 10 minutes with the lid on. In the meantime, get started on the sushi seasoning.
6. In a small bowl, mix together the three tablespoons rice vinegar, two tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt.
7. When the rice is ready, tip it into a large bowl that's been slightly dampened with water on the inside. This will help prevent the rice from sticking to the sides.
8. Evenly drizzle over the sushi seasoning over the warm rice. Using a wooden spoon or a wooden spatula, gently mix the seasoning into the rice (metal spoons can damage the soft grains of the rice and may also react to the vinegar).Using a cutting motion through the rice with the spoon helps to distribute the seasoning, as well as separating the rice.
9. Cover the bowl of rice with a damp kitchen towel and set it aside to cool whilst you get on with preparing the salad dressing and toppings.

To make the salad dressing

1. Add all the ingredients for the dressing to a small bowl and whisk together, taking extra care that the wasabi dissolves into the liquid. Pour into a small jug to serve with your salad.

Prepare the salad toppings

1. Separate the smoked salmon into individual 'sheets' and cut each sheet into long ribbons of about 2.5cm/1" thick.
2. Pit and peel the avocados and slice into thin slices.
3. Peel the carrot and slice into julienne strips. You can do this by hand or by using a mandoline.
4. Using a potato peeler, peel long strips lengthways from the cucumber to create 'ribbons'. When you almost reached the centre of the cucumber, turn it around and repeat from the other side.
5. Using scissors, cut the nori into very thin strips - think paper when it's gone through a shredder.
6. Top and tail the radishes and slice into paper-thin slices.

Assembling the sushi salad

1. Divide the rice into four individual bowls.
2. Pile the salmon ribbons into the middle of each rice bowl.
3. Fan out a few slices of avocado on top of the rice.
4. Bunch together julienned carrots and place them towards the side of the bowl. We like to have them sticking out across the rim a little.
5. Take the cucumber ribbons and loosely roll them up into small spirals. Nestle them together on the rice . If you keep them close to each other it stops them from unrolling. It also helps to lightly press them down into the rice.
6. Place a bunch of the shredded nori onto the rice - Because they are similarly sliced to the carrots, place them on the opposite side of the bowl to keep it interesting.
7. Dot the radishes across the salad where you see gaps, preferably in groups of three/five.
8. Leave a small area of rice bare to show what's underneath the toppings.
9. Lavishly sprinkle over the sesame and poppy seeds for extra colour and texture. The black sesame seeds look great on the green avocado and the white rice.
10. Serve the salad alongside the salad dressing with pickled sushi ginger and extra wasabi.