Sushi Night

Although it's time consuming, J and I love making sushi together. It's a great meal to make with someone and there are so many combinations to try - it never gets old! We got hit with yet another snow storm today and decided not to risk driving to restock our fridge, so it was a let's-see-what-the-heck-is-in-the-fridge-and-wing-it kind of night. Wing it nights might be some of my favorite. Somehow we always end up with awesome results!

First, I started by making the rice (while J was kindly shoveling) because it needs to cool before you can handle it. I used Alton Brown's sushi rice recipe and it turned out nice and sticky. While the rice cooked, I chopped up a bunch of different veggies. It's fun to cut up all the options hanging out in your fridge and use whatever you end up using without worrying about not using it all. If you don't use it all, you can throw it into a salad for tomorrow's lunch, or save it in a container for a stir-fry later in the week. In other words, don't sweat it!

So tonight I sliced yellow bell pepper very thinly, some dinosaur kale, sautéed some thinly sliced mushrooms in a little oil and Braggs, julienned a few carrots, diced up a 1/4 cup of cilantro, thinly sliced a 1/4 of a cucumber, and 1/2 of an avocado. I also sliced some tofu in long, thin rows after it had been pressed.

Then J took over and started the assembly process! To accompany the sushi, we made a delicious tahini miso ginger sauce from This Rawsome Vegan Life which J used inside one of the rolls and we also served as a dipping sauce on the side.

While J assembled the sushi rolls, I made a Seaweed Salad similar to the recipe we posted about a year ago. This time, I added some of the sautéed mushrooms and didn't marinate the tofu, but just tossed it in. 


I used some of the leftover sticky rice to make two rice balls which had avocado in the middle. To make rice balls, you'll want to wet your hands with cold water to prevent the rice from sticking so much. Pick up a handful, create a little crater in the middle, and mash the avocado into the crater. Then cover it by patting and rolling the rice into a ball. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and kelp granules in a dish and roll the rice ball around to coat.

We made the table up all fancy and served dinner with sake shipped to us by my best friend straight from Japan.

All fancy sake comes in a juice box with a straw :-)

Tahini Rice Noodles Revisited

Remember how I made Tahini Rice Noodles the other day? Well, after an awesome session at Springboard Pilates and a brusque walk home, I felt like a big plate of veggies, rice noodles, and tahini again! I took a picture this time so you can actually see what it looks like. Made a few changes such as adding zucchini, carrot, and white turnip and not using bell pepper. I also included a few shakes of dulse granules on top for some seaweed-goodness. And again, it's delicious.

Let me just mention that the kale, red cabbage, white turnip, zucchini, carrot, yellow beans, and radish are all from our farm share through Snell Family Farm. It's incredible how amazing it feels to eat food that was picked a few days ago and didn't need to travel from California or New Mexico to get to your plate. Farm share = do it. You will thank me.

Also, I'm seriously love tahini, you guys. I might need an intervention; I almost added it to my oatmeal this morning.

Vegan Lunchbox

Rainbow Salad
2 carrots, julienned
3-4 baby portebelloes, chopped
1/4 red onion, diced
1 cup green beans, slivered
1 cup snap peas, halved
2 stalks celery, diced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup clover sprouts
1 sheet of nori, ripped into small pieces
 salt & pepper

Dressing:
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
1-2 garlic cloves, minced

Mix everything together!

Serves 6-8

Cashew Spread Veggie Sushi
Post Punk Kitchen's Cashew Spread (made without scallions & red pepper)
1 carrot, julienned
1/4 avocado, sliced
1/8 yellow bell pepper, sliced thinly
1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup clover sprouts
1 sheet of nori

Serves 1

Seaweed Salad and Marinated Tofu

A few nights ago, J made a delicious seaweed salad using local frozen seaweed found at Whole Foods. We've been meaning to try the stuff ever since the company, Ocean Approved, did a tasting at the store. We were intrigued by kelp noodles and kelp salad, having had them at Japanese restaurants, but never making them ourselves. It's kind of expensive - $5.69 a package - but well worth it!

J also made marinated tofu, which complimented the salad nicely - the contrast of the soft, uncooked tofu against the somewhat tough and tangy seaweed was a really nice paring.

Seaweed Salad with Marinated Tofu


2 cups seaweed (frozen, not dried), salad cut
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 block firm tofu, pressed, then sliced into 8 steaks
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp brown rice vinegar
1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Place frozen seaweed (in unopened package) in a bowl of hot water to thaw.

Blanch broccoli in boiling water. Remove and set aside.

Mix vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, and ginger in a bowl. Soak the tofu in 1/3 of the marinade. After seaweed thaws, place in a bowl with broccoli and mix with 2/3 of the marinade. Allow to marinate at least one hour.

Sprinkle seaweed salad with sesame seeds and spring onion before serving.

Serves 4

Photo by Justin Lumiere