Makes 12



Battleship rolls can be made with lettuce leaves instead of nori. Use a lettuce with flexible leaves, such as butter lettuce or lollo rosso as ribbons and iceberg as cups.

INGREDIENTS:

½ quantity vinegared rice
4 small lollo rosso leaves
4 butter lettuce leaves
4 small iceberg lettuce leaves
Japanese soy sauce (shoyu) to serve

Hand vinegar:
4 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar
250 ml water

Toppings:
75 g smoked haddock
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sugar
75 g smoked salmon, finely chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4-6 tablespoons black lumpfish caviar
1 tablespoon caperberries or capers, drained

HOW TO MAKE:

1. Make the vinegared rice (sumeshi) following the last recipe. Mix the hand vinegar ingredients in small bowl and set aside.
2. Put the haddock and bay leaf in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, return to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes or until cooked. Drain well. Remove and discard the skin and all the small bones. Put in a bowl and flake finely with a fork. Stir in the sugar and let cool.
3. Sprinkle the smoked salmon with lemon juice.
4. Cut a 3 cm wide strip crossways from the top of the lollo rosso and butter lettuce leaves. Make a small cup, 7 cm diameter, from the inner iceberg leaves.
5. Make 12 rectangular mounds of rice. Instead of wrapping in nori, wrap 4 in lollo rosso leaves, 4 in butter lettuce and 4 in iceberg lettuce cups. Put 1-1 ½ tablespoons caviar in the iceberg cups. Top the haddock with a little caviar, the salmon with caperberry or caper and the caviar with a few flakes of haddock.
6. Arrange on a platter or small plates and serve with a small dish of soy sauce.