Your approach to your meal should reflect your need to get in touch with nature. A quiet, relaxed dinner, a table set for a few. Be creative, be bold. Decorate your table to aesthetically please your senses. Your chopsticks pick out succulent fish and rice, piquant with wasabi and soya sauce, balanced with a sesame-doused salad. The perfect blend of ingredients, the perfect setting - harmony is sure to follow

Perennial Page 3 favourite and Indian line producer for the Angelina Jolie starrer, A Mighty Heart, Aarti Surendranath says, "Long before sushi became a rage in India, I used to specially import it from Thailand - and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I turned vegetarian recently and although it's just not the same as authentic sushi, I still manage to get my flavours when I travel abroad."

TOBBIKO SUSHI
Ingredients: Tobiko (wasabi), 20 gms; Tobiko (orange), 20 gms; Yaki nori, 1 gm; Sushi rice, 40 gms; Cucumber, 5 gms; Wasabi, 7 gms; Soya sauce, 25 ml; Gari, 25 gms.
Method: Divide the sushi rice into two equal portions and mould into rectangular borders and cover the sides with a strip of yaki nori. Fill each one with wasabi tobiko and orange tobiko respectively. Garnish with a cucumber fan and a small ball of wasabi and serve accompanied with gari, wasabi and soya sauce.

MAGURO SAKURA
Ingredients: Tuna, 150 gms; Ice berg lettuce, 40 gms; Cucumber, 60 gms; Carrot, 60 gms; Capsicum (green, yellow and red), 20 gms each; Scallions, 10 gms; Kaiso seaweed, 15 gms; Avocado, 75 gms; Cherry tomatoes, 20 gms; Hyashi wakame, 10 gms; Sesame seeds, 5 gms. FOR THE DRESSING
Ingredients: Refined oil, 25 ml; Soya sauce, 25 ml; Rice vinegar, 25 ml; Tsyunomotto, 13 ml; Ginger, 3 gms; Onion, 3 gms; Green chilly, 3 gms.
Method: Blend all the ingredients for the dressing and set aside. Arrange the refreshed lettuce on the salad bowl. Mix the carrot and cucumber julienne and place on top of the lettuce. Sprinkle some chopped scallions and kaiso and arrange the thinly cut capsicum and avocado. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters and place over the salad. Strain the dressing and add a quarter of it to the diced tuna. Arrange the tuna and finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Serve along with the remainder of the dressing.

SAMURAI MAKI
Ingredients: Sushi rice, 95 gms; Yaki nori, 1.5 gms; Tuna, 75 gms; Jalapenos, 15 gms; Tempura dust, 7 gms; Japanese mayonnaise, 5 ml; Togarashi, 1 gm; Oil, 10 ml; Soya sauce, 30 ml; Wasabi, 7 gms; Gari shouga, 25 gms.
Method: Spread a thin layer of the sushi rice on the yaki nori. Reverse, then line chopped jalapenos, tempura dust, tuna and spicy mayonnaise. Roll with the help of maki mat. Pipe a line of spicy mayonnaise and arrange thin slices of tuna, roll again in order to get a firm roll. Cut into 8 even pieces and serve garnished with tempura dust, accompanied with soya sauce, gari and wasabi.