Made sushi last night successfully for the first time. I thought it was going to be terribly complicated and difficult. It was a bit sticky and a bit messy, but well worth it.
I’d tried making sushi once before but was unable to roll the roll- which meant I put the book back on the shelf and forgot about it. This time around I went slowly and followed the instructions for the rice very carefully. That was the trick. The rice has to be at a very precise texture so it all sticks together. Cutting the rolls began badly. The knife must be incredibly sharp or everything falls apart. Fortunately I remembered my cuchillo jamonero, a spanish knife designed to cut ham very finely, it worked perfectly.
I love the idea of vegetarian sushi. It opens up a whole world of interesting options and combinations. As it was my first time, I kept it simple. The roll was cucumber, avocado and mushroom, the oshi-zushi was mango, avocado and cashew nuts. I’ll have to sit down and think about how to refine the flavours for the future, but in all it was a promising start.
I’m not turning completely vegetarian, but after watching a documentary called Food Inc. a few weeks ago I decided it was time to seriously reconsider what we eat. Not that we had a bad diet, if we have fast food it’s once a year at the most- but I did occasionally buy a processed dish or two. Maybe a frozen quiche or ready-made tomato sauce, and I didn’t pay too close attention to meat origin. That Is Over. Never again will I buy a tray of ground beef at the supermarket or chicken that’s not marked free range. In fact, I’m making an effort to only buy what’s produced right here in our region.
I am a big fan of Vegetarian sushi and Vegetarian versions of Japanese cuisine. Even more delightful is traditional Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. I had a wonderful meal at a Vegetarian Buddhist restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan decades ago, that I still remember as positively delightful!
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E, back when I was vegetarian and learned to roll sushi, I used a long spear of cucumber as the closest fish approximation and a tiny bit of shredded carrot for color. Simple, and effective.
Once, when short of time and leaving for a pot-luck party, I invented “sushi salad.” Instead of rolling the sushi, I cut the wrapper into 1 cm squares, cut the cucumber spear into similarly sized bits, and threw them plus the shredded carrots into the bowl of prepared sushi rice and mixed them.
At the party, when I said it was “sushi salad”, most other guests groaned, thinking raw fish. Soon as I explained that there was no fish, they tried it. It disappeared faster than just about anything else on the food table!
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Perhaps you would enjoy my all-time favorite vegetarian book: “Laurel’s Kitchen”, 1st. ed. (I was not at all fond of the 2nd ed. and can’t recommend it.) “Laurel’s Kitchen” explained nutritional diet in a very cozy, inviting, logical, and scientifically grounded way, primarily for the vegetarian, while explaining that even a non-vegetarian could apply its principles. One could read it like a novel, learn, and even pick up worthy recipes therein.
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Food Inc. is a wonderful film; the scandalous practices of Monsanto and their control of food seed should be widely exposed.
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Couldn’t agree more. We also have to stop our Heritage seeds from being taken out of our hands. Old seed varieties are the key to biodiversity.
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Yes, yes, yes!
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I love veggie sushi. The ones I buy generally have avocados and carrots in them. The outside is sprinkled with sesame seeds. Completely delicious.
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I must confess, I’ve never cooked a Japanese vegetarian.
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Definitely worth a try! At worse you’ll waste £7 on sushi rice, rice vinegar and vegetables 🙂 I was surprised at how easy it turned out to be.
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Er, my dear Mr. M., I was merely making an ironic point about the title of your book.
[e.g. I love children, but I couldn’t eat a whole one.]
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I think, done right, they come out a little crunchy, if you tempura them. Not sure how they come out on a hibachi. 😉
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Where do you stick the skewer? 😉
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I think you’re confusing Japanese with Korean grilling on a hibachi… I’ve no expertise, there. 😉
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Congratulations! We have a Japanese cookbook too, but it stays gathering dust on the shelf as I don’t have a ‘feel’ for it, or the utensils to make it successfully. Totally agree with you on the provenance of the our food. We try for free range/organic where possible, but cost is still a factor. However growing a few key vegetables for ourselves has become a staple. The deck is just large enough for some big terracotta pots in which tomatoes, lettuce, basil and parsley all love the north facing location [would be south for you upside down people]. Perhaps you could do something similar in your greenhouse? I didn’t dream that did I?
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Give the japanese thing a try! I spent about €30 on “odd” materials including an oshizushi press. A bag of sushi rice is only €2.50. I now feel silly I gave up so easily.
The greenhouse is a learning experience. This summer I’ve discovered that not all vegetables like a lot of heat and sunlight 😦
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I’ll definitely revisit the idea of Japanese cooking again, but I’d be happier if I could talk the Daughter into trying to cook it! As for the greenhouse, I have no idea what your winters are like but perhaps its the excess humidity they dislike? Can you adjust the amount of fresh, cold air that goes in?
My self sown lettuces survived the not-so-cold winter here with next to no protection other than whatever heat reflected off the brick wall behind them.
Actually that was going to be another suggestion – fresh mixed lettuce looks absolutely beautiful in its own right – why not create a lettuce urn outside your french doors? That spot looks lovely and sunny.
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Japanese food, or sushi has never interested me at all. Rather you than me. Indonesian and Thai are much more interesting. Not keen on Chinese either.
David Scott’s Far Eastern Vegetarian Cookery is good, may be out of print now though. Paola Gavin’s Italian veg cookery is good too, as is Julie Sahni’s Indian veg cooking. Depends what you like I suppose. I still use Bertholle, Brooks and Child, (spell? As cover and spine have gone) Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1963) though.
We started eating vegetarian for health, and choice re organic free-range food, but it soon became ethical. Ethics makes it much easier.
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