Sweet Potato Avocado Rolls with Maple Tamari Reduction

Yeeeeeeeehaw, let's go ahead and just put the sesame seeds away. It's ok. I've got something different for you to try.

Bit of a disclosure: this roll was supposed to be pumpkin and avocado, but by time I got to chopping and roasting the huge pumpkin I'd had lying around for a while, and discovering its sinewy reluctance to be delicious at all, well, the cute little sweet tater hanging in my produce basket was looking mighty fine. And so it got roasted. And cut into cubey strips. And wrapped in nori with a good friend (avocado) and coconut rice.

And rolled in toasted, salted pumpkin seeds. So good.

Earthy, nutty little suckers. A lovely coating - even when lying next to fellow rolls, being squished and leaned on, no one got stuck to each other. Uber easy to cut, even with my (gasp) non-recently sharpened knife.  Higher protein, these seeds, perhaps? Who knows, but for taste alone, I'd do it again. Maybe with some tempeh bacon next time, oh yeah.

And let's not forget - a small saucepan, half maple syrup, half tamari, healthy dash of smoked habanero poweder, simmered down to the consistency of balsamic reduction, drizzled over top with a fork. This isn't salty sushi. This is Prelude to Pumpkin Pie sushi.

Sweet Potato Avocado Sushi with Pepitas and Maple-Tamari Reduction
makes 6 rolls

Let's do this.

2 cups sushi rice, washed until water runs clean
1 can coconut milk + half a cup of water

1 medium sweet potato, roasted, sliced to 1/2 inch strips
1 avocado, sliced to strips
6 sheets nori
2 cups roasted, salted pumpkin seeds, crushed

1 cup maple syrup
1 cup tamari soy sauce
1/2 tsp smoked habanero powder

sushi mat
sharp knife

Easy peasy.

Prep your rice as you would normal sushi rice, but leave out the rice vinegar. Cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, combine your tamari, maple syrup, and habanero powder in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat 12-14 minutes, until reduced by half. Set aside.

Have your fillings at hand. Set up a separate plate for rolling your sushi in the crushed pumpkin seeds (ie, a spare cutting board). Be near a sink, for rinsing your knife in between cuts.

Cover your mat in plastic wrap, folding it around itself at the edges.

Press 2/3 cup sushi rice onto the plastic, about covering the area of one of your nori sheets. Press a sheet of nori in place over your square of rice. Place 3-4 potato strips and 5-6 slices of avocado at roll bottom, then bring the bottom edge up and using the mat, roll your sushi tightly, following through at the end, so that the riced nori sticks to itself.

Dust your spare cutting board with 1/2 cup pepitas and roll your sushi in the delish powder. Set roll aside.

Complete the rest of your rolls. If you have leftover rice/nori, try your hand at ....

Starting with a sharp knife that has been run under the faucet, slice your sushi into 8-10 pieces. Plate as you go, and drizzle your lovely rolls with tamari-maple reduction, when done.

Taking those babies to a party? Skewer each piece with a toothpick. Enjoy!

Just because you can, definitely means that you should.

Here in crown town, and in other 'tropolisis that tend to show up on obesity stat-maps as uncommonly overweight, we have these things. And they are called Fried Pickles.

They are on my top-5 things that made me move to Charlotte list. No, I'm not kidding. Good god, are they good, in a sick-to-your-stomach kind of way - similar to the sinking, queasy feeling you'd get when eating the entire can of cake frosting with a spoon as a kid.  Or, you know, last week.

I had a mature batch of kimchi. I had some cake flour. Batch of vegan ranch. And the desire for tempura. And so, this monstrosity happened:

Greasy, salty, stinky. AWESOME.

Batter was simple - flour, water, dash of oil, some korean pepper paste and salt. Dash baking soda. Vamanos.

But wait, what's this?

Is that the afore-mentioned pickley tempura wrapped in rice and nori, with avocado and daiya, topped by sesame nayo? Is it? WHY YES, YES IT IS.

Before you guys all tell me I'm not the first, well, hey, I know that. But it's 100% vegan. And ain't nowhere in this city to get it that way, 'cept my kitchen.

Tempura Kimchi Kim Bap with Avocado, Daiya, and Sesame Nayo
makes 3-4 rolls

For the tempura kimchi:

1 handful squeezed kimchi

1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tsp egg replacer
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1/4 cup cake flour
1/4 cup korean red pepper, ground

Vegetable oil for frying

for the sushi:

1.5 cups sushi rice
2 cups water
Dash vinegar + 1 tsp sugar
3-4 sheets nori
1 avocado, sliced thin
Small handful daiya cheeze shreds

4 tablespoons nayonaise
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Black sesame seeds, for topping

Break out that sushi mat, ladies and gents, and lesdothis.

Combine your sushi rice and water in a saucepan or rice cooker, bring to a boil, cover, and cook 20 minutes - until the water is absorbed. Remove rice to a large bowl and stick the stuff in the freezer to cool quickly.

Toss your red pepper and flour together. Spread on a plate.

Mix the batter ingredients together and whisk till smooth.

Heat your vegetable oil in a fryer or wok till hot hot hot, and make your tempura - roll each piece of kimchi seperately in the flour/red pepper mix, then dip in the batter, then gently lay in the oil bath. Do only 3 at a time - they cook quickly. Scoop out and lay on paper towels to drain. Repeat until your kimchi is all gone.

Mix your sugar and vinegar together and add to the rice. It's ok if it's still a little warm - just not hot.

Chop your kimchi into 1/2 inch wide pieces (if they don't need chopping, more power to ya - mine did!) and set them out on a plate with your other fillings (avocado, daiya).

Lay out your sushi mat and place a piece of nori rough side up. Grab about a cup of rice from your bowl and press it into the sushi, until it forms a rectangle that stretches to both sides horizontally but leaves a little space at both top and bottom. Press 1/4 of the avocado, then kimchi, then daiya into the rice, and roll away. An awesome how-to video can be found here. Repeat until fillings and rice are gone.

Mix your nayo and sesame oil in a small bowl and thin with just a teeeny bit of water. Slice your sushi with a wet knife, plate, and drizzle sesame nayo over the roll. Top with black sesame seeds, if you'd like.

Mine got a little coneheady BUT that didn't mean they weren't superdelish. A little indulgent, fat wise - tempura + avocado + nayo. But hey, that's what the gym's for *cough*.

Cheers!

I like to party.

And I love bringing food to parties.

It started out when I did a lot of hanging with a particularly non-soy-friendly crowd in NYC - I knew there'd be bacon in everything people brought to whatever potluck/shindig was getting crammed into someone's incredibly tiny apt, so I'd play it like I was going to anyway - you know, I just had this vegan lasagna in the fridge and it needed to get eaten.

Over time, I've developed preferences for party-friendly food. It can't look confusing - ingredients should be evident. Small is good - one hand probably has a drink in it. Slimy, gooey textures scare people off (I learned this after making a crock pot full of Swedish Meatballs for a cocktail party that people would stare at suspectfully as they walked by, like some meatball amoeba was about to pour forth and consume them). Basically, it stands to reason that if you can get everything you want people to taste in a single bite (maybe two), that's the best way to go.

That's not to say I'm above standing at the wedding buffet, scooping pounds of spinach/artichoke dip onto a plate waaaay to small to hold the steaming mass, but if I'm the one at the wheel, things usually get tiny and complicated. Anyway.

Hello, burrito sushi.

Fiesta time, mi mujeres y hombres. You might think nori + salsa = weird, and you'd be right. But goodweird.

This is a pretty straightforward recipe - just make a batch of sushi rice but treat it like this recipe for yellow oats - some faux-chicken (or real, if you're so inclined) stock, saffron, garlic, a dash of turmeric for color.

Then, for the filling -

Queso Fresco (vegan darlings - try some Daiya OR crumble a teeny bit of firm tofu, toss with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder)
Refried Black Beans
Salsa (mine's simple - handful cilantro, one large tomato diced fine, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1/3 medium red onion diced fine as well, half a lime's juice, 1 fresh jalapeno, again, fine dice, salt and pepper to taste)
Sour cream (again, darlings - I love this recipe for Soy Sour Cream, give it a whirl or just leave it out!)
Shredded Lettuce
Avocado

- being as conservative as possible. I used about 3/4 - 1 tablespoon of each filling, and still ended up with jumbo rolls.

As long as you don't add any oil or fat to the rice, it'll maintain its stickiness enough so that you don't have to add vinegar/sugar.

Just a piece of advice - if you're making these for 5-6 hours in the future (and especially if they're sitting overnight) double wrap these rolls with nori.

Burrito Sushi Rice

makes enough for 6 rolls

2 cups short grained white rice ("sushi" rice) washed
3 1/2 cups water mixed with 2 cubes faux-chicken boillion
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon safflower
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Boil the broth and seasonings and add rice, stir, and cover. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Let sit 10, uncover and stir, and cool (either on the stove, or if you're anxious to get burrito-sushi makin, in the freezer).

I totally made a batch a couple weeks ago (because I had a ton of fajita making leftovers and wanted to do something weird with them, you know how it is) with standard sushi rice and they were decent. Flavoring the rice really makes this shine, however.

Slice, drizzle with hot sauce, skewer with festive toothpicks, and serve.