VEGAN KIMCHI NORI ROLLS

This recipe is a kind of sushi, but without the fish.  These rolls are completely vegan and easy to make.  It's a really fun meal to make with a bunch of friends and family.  You can make the rice ahead of time and store it in the fridge for up to 1 week.  I love how these flavors come together into a beautiful medley in the mouth.  Feel free to adjust the ingredients to taste, it won't spoil the end product.

Vegan Kimchi Nori Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice (we like organic brown rice)
• 2 cups water
• 5 sheets of nori
• 1 tablespoon Mirin (optional)
• 2 teaspoon Sesame Oil (optional)
• 2 teaspoon Vinegar (like rice wine vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon Tamari (or soy sauce or fish sauce)
• 1/4 cup Almonds, chopped
• 1/4 cup Sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup Pumpkin seeds, chopped
• 2 tablespoon Sesame seeds
• 1/2 Avocado, sliced
• Fermentology Foods Red (or White) Kimchi
• Cucumber, julienned
• Carrot, julienned
• Wasabi powder

Directions:
Pour rice and water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, cover and cook on low heat for 45 minutes to an hour, until soft.   Once cooked, turn out into a large bowl and add mirin, sesame oil, vinegar, tamari and stir.  Set aside to cool. 

While the rice mixture is cooling, chop your nuts and seeds until they're all the same size as the sunflower seeds.  Dump the nuts and seeds into the rice and mix well.  Slice avocado.  Julienne the carrot and cucumber.  Mix wasabi with just enough water to make a paste.  Now your rice should be cool enough to handle. 

At this point you need to roll the rolls.  Some folks find this intimidating, and I'm here to tell you that NO ONE will ever see how much I've screwed this up, because I didn't let them.  So kick everyone out of the kitchen, give yourself some space and time to practice (or practice while no one is home).  Grab a cutting board, or a sushi mat.  Personally, I do not like the sushi mat, because it doesn't allow me to have the tactile interactions that I find necessary and I usually mess it up.  But I'm not you, so you make your own decisions.  Lay out your nori.  Spoon a THIN layer of the rice mixture onto the nori.  THIN YA'LL, like thinner than you'd think.  Seriously, this is the way, it will also fix all of your burrito making problems.  You're welcome.  Once you have a thin layer of rice on your nori, place a few pieces of avocado, carrot, cucumber, and about 3 pinches of Kimchi at the closest end of the roll.  Now pick up the closest end of the nori and begin to roll it all up.  Use your thumb to push the roll away from yourself and the rest of your fingers to tighten the roll into itself.  Ultimately, this is a difficult thing to describe in words so remember to be gentle with yourself and to practice.  The best rolls are of the Goldilocks ilk: not too tight, not too loose.  Once you have 1" left of your nori left laying on the cutting board, you need to seal it.  Grab a small glass of water, dip 2 fingers in and then run them against the nori.  The water rehydrates the nori, and when hydrated nori meets dehydrated nori it sticks! 

Now, you have a beautiful, perfect roll.  Take a large chopping knife (not serrated)  and wet both sides with water.  Use this lubricated knife to gently slice through the roll so that you make beautiful rounds.  Serve with wasabi paste, more Kimchi, and if you're like me, Kimchi Peanut Dipping Sauce.

Enjoy!

Makes enough for a bunch of people or enough for 1 person who is serious about eating a great deal of delicious, healthy food.
 

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