Daniel Fast Recipe # 8: Vegetable Sushi

It's been a few days... I swear I've been cooking things and eating food, but I just haven't had a lot of time to blog about it. Report Cards come out soon.... so I've been up to my eyeballs in late work from kids who finally decide they want to pass my class. But hey! It's all good.

Here is a recipe for homemade Sushi:

You will need...

2 cups brown rice

1 cucumber

1 avocado

3 green onions

1 large carrot 

1 tomato

1/2 green pepper

1 bag of Nori (seaweed wraps which can be found a Jewel in the Asian food section)

soy sauce (optional)

lemon juice (optional)

cumin and garlic (optional)

wasabi (optional)

A bowl of warm water and a washcloth or napkin

A long sharp knife without serrated edges

A cutting board to serve as a sushi-rolling surface

A Sushi roller (optional)

To prepare ingredients:

1. Bring 2 cups of water in a pot to boil, add brown rice, reduce heat, and cover with a lid until water has evaporated
2. While heat is still on the pot, add a splash or soy sauce and a splash of lemon juice along with a few dashes of cumin and garlic. Stir rice until mixed thoroughly  (again, this is optional, but it makes the rice more flavorful)
3. Allow rice to cool while preparing the vegetables
4. Peel the cucumber, then cut into long slices so they look like quarter-inch sticks
5. Do the same wit the carrot
6. Slice the tomato into quarter-inch slices, then take out the seeds and cut the circles in half so that the tomato edges can be stretched into stick-like pieces
7. Cut off the roots and very ends of the green onions so they are also long pieces
8. Slice the green pepper into long stick-like pieces
9. Slice avocado into quarter-inch pieces after taking the pit and outer peeling out
10. Set the veggies aside into little bowls or in separate sections on a large plate, fill a bowl with warm water and dip a washcloth or napkin in. Set the knife nearby, then bring out a cutting board as a working surface.

Okay, now that you have all the ingredients prepared, you can get ready to make the sushi rolls:

1. Take out a sheet of Nori and place with the shiny side down onto the cutting board
2. Gently spoon some rice onto the Nori and very carefully spread so that there is a think layer of rice over most of the surface, but leave a strip at the very bottom and the very top free of rice
4. Place your favorite combination of veggies in a strip at the very bottom of the Nori, right where the rice starts. There should be a strip of Nori at the bottom that can be folded over the veggies, so put the vegetables on top of the rice.
5. Wet fingers and dab water onto the rice-free Nori at the bottom and top.
6. Fold the rice-free Nori strip over the veggies, then gently roll the entire sushi roll until you get to the top of the Nori, where the rice stops.
7. Wet fingers again, and smooth the rice-free Nori flap so that it sticks to the rest of the roll.
8. Roll gently over so secure the sushi roll, and keep the wet side down
9. Take the wet washcloth and wet the sharp knife
10. Cut the sushi roll in the middle by gently sawing the roll, not by pressing down. This will help the roll stay intact and help it maintain it's curricular shape.
11. Clean and wet the knife with the wet cloth before each cut.
12. Cut the two sushi roll parts in half again with the same sawing movement
13. Clean and wet the knife again
14. Cut the four sushi roll parts in half, then gently set each piece aside on a large serving plate
15. Repeat steps 1-14 until the rice is gone, or you have enough sushi for your family

Some of my favorite combinations of veggies:
Onion, Avocado, Cucumber
Tomato, Onion, Carrot
Avocado, Pepper, Cucumber
Carrot, Avocado, Pepper, Tomato, Onion

You can get really creative with the veggies if you want, adding mushrooms, spinach, tofu, or cabbage (as you can maybe see, I added some spinach to one roll and some tofu as well). After the Fast, you can add cream cheese, crab meat, spicy tuna, or shrimp!

Things to serve Sushi with:
Miso Soup (you can buy packets of this at Jewel)
Stir Fried veggies in soy sauce
Soba or rice noodles in vegetable broth with spinach, mushrooms, and green onions
Tofu, pan fired in peanut butter and soy sauce

Ways to eat Sushi:
With chop sticks
With fingers
With a boring old fork.... if you must ;-)
Dipped in Soy Sauce
Dipped Soy Sauce mixed with wasabi
Slice a piece of ginger on top of it
Just eat plain!