Just like cookies, these children’s sushi are made in pretty colors and shapes. Specially shaped moulds are sold in Japanese stores, but if you don’t have access to such exciting shops, use decorative cookie cutters and other mould shapes.

INGREDIENTS:
½ quantity vinegared rice

Cherry blossom sushi:
100 g cod or haddock fillet, skinned
2 tablespoons sugar
Salt and pepper
Red vegetable food coloring (if you don’t want to use food coloring, use grilled fresh salmon, flaked, instead of the white fish and coloring)

Spring green sushi:
100 g shelled green peas
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt

Golden star sushi:
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon sugar

Star, daisy and diamond or heart shaped sushi moulds, or cookie cutters

HOW TO MAKE:
1. Make the vinegared rice (sumeshi).
2. Put the fish in a saucepan, add just enough boiling water to cover and simmer until well cooked. Drain, then carefully remove all the small bones. Pat dry with kitchen paper and put into the dry saucepan. Using a fork, crush into fine flakes. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt, then cook over a low heat, continuously stirring with a fork, for about 2 minutes, or until the fish is very dry and flaky. If using food coloring, dilute 1 drop with 1 tablespoon water, then stir quickly through the fish to spread the color evenly. Remove from the heat and let cool. (alternatively, use fresh salmon cooked to flakes in the same way or crush canned cooked red salmon into flakes.)
3. Bring a small saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil, add the peas and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Drain and pat dry with kitchen paper. Crush with a mortar and pestle or in a food processor to form a smooth green paste. 4. Stir in the sugar and a pinch of salt.
5. Lightly oil a small saucepan and heat over a moderate heat. Put the eggs, milk and sugar in a bowl, mix, then pour into the pan. Quickly stir with a fork to make soft scrambled eggs. Remove from the heat and let cool.
6. Divide the vinegared rice into three. To make the cherry blossom sushi, put 1 tablespoon of the pink fish flakes in the bottom of a small heart-shaped mould and press about 1 tablespoon of the rice on top. Turn out onto a plate, fish side up. Repeat until all the pink flakes and a third of the rice are used. Using a second mould, repeat using the green pea paste and another third of the rice. Using a third mould, repeat using the scrambled eggs with the remaining third of the rice. If using grilled fresh salmon, use a fourth mould.
7. Arrange cherry blossom, flower, star and spring green sushi on a large serving plate.