Cocktails and Canapes for Women's World Cup 2015: Japan

I know penalty shoot outs are exciting but I hate to see a hard fought game decided that way, and felt really quite disappointed that last night France went out to Germany that way. So I'm hoping tonight's quarter final game of Japan vs Australia does not have to be decided by penalties. I'm going with Japan as the theme for my Cocktail and Canape and another rather off piste cocktail with a green tea mojito. Last night's wheat beer cocktail hasn't put me off experimenting so here goes with a variation of the mojito from web site japan food style:

Ingredients for 1 Green Tea Mojito
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
sprig  mint leaves
2 tablespoons sugar syrup
60ml strong brewed matcha tea or other good green tea
3 tablespoons white rum (or sake if you have it)
ice

soda water to top up
mint garnish

Make a strong infusion of matcha  or green tea to give 50 ml, stir in the sugar and then chill

Place the mint (lightly crushed), lime juice, white rum, green tea, and ice in a tall glass and stir

Top up with soda and garnish with more mint and a wedge of lime.

For the canape I am serving teriyaki salmon on a lightly cooked slice of courgette with a yuzu flavoured mayonnaise and sprinkle of Japanese pepper. 

I ued a pre-made teriyaki sauce to marinate the salmon pieces which makes this very easy to put together. The courgette was simply sliced thinly and quickly blanched and dressed with a little rice vinegar and salt. The salmon should be boneless and skinless and marinate in the sauce for about an hour. You then fry it for just a few minutes on each side to get a browned outer crust. Cover the pan and turn off the heat to finish cooking. Yuzu is a citrus juice with a quite unique flavour that is quite hard to find. Waitrose supermarket had been selling it in small bottles but alas no more. You can find bottles yuzu seasoning more easily but I would rather have the pure juice. I just added about 1 part yuzu juice to 2 parts mayonnaise. The Japanese pepper mix Shichimi tōgarashi is sold in small jars and includes sesame seeds and orange peel. I love the fresh but quite punchy flavours in this dish.