Comforting Homemade Ramen

As you may already know, Kimberly and I are currently living in two different cities. We're not separated by anything particularly tragic but damn I miss that crazy vegan! Things being as they are, however, we have decided to continue blogging separately, and this is my first solo post. I'm slightly nervous - who is going to filter out all of my bad jokes? - but excited, because I think you'll like this recipe. I ate it the other night and I've craved it every night since, so I take that as a good sign.

I am the omnivore of our very catchy title about the omnivore and the vegan eating what they love and loving what they eat. So you may be thinking to yourself, "Kate is without her vegan better half. Kate is now gonna bring the cheese, and she's gonna bring the meat, and she's gonna bring it big." If you are thinking something to that affect, however, I regret to inform you that you will be somewhat disappointed by this post. And probably all subsequent posts. You see, our very catchy title is not entirely accurate anymore, as I am a recent convert. That's right, I am no longer an omnivore. Try to feed me cow, goat, or even a bug and I will politely turn them down (unless you in some way gravely offend me in the process in which case I might turn them down impolitely). 

Kimberly and I still have differing dietary choices - despite my genuine and deep love of vegan food, I have yet to find something that would replace the intensely comforting late night snack of cheesy scrambled eggs wrapped in a warm tortilla or paired with thick slices of good bread. But we continue to share fundamental elements of our food philosophies: our insistence that everyone should have access to real, healthy, and culturally significant foods that, as woo-woo as it sounds, feel right to them; our focus on taking time for good food; and our intense enthusiasm for eating. 

I'd love to say that my decision to become a vegetarian emerged out of some sort of foodie spiritual revelation but the fact of the matter is, it was made after seeing a movie. Not a documentary, not even an Indie flick. It was a go to the local cinema, eat a giant tub of popcorn and watch a movie kind of movie. Anyways, I have for some time subscribed to the idea that if you can't kill an animal yourself, up close and personal, then you probably shouldn't be eating animals. And as an omnivore I often asked myself if I could kill an animal. What clicked for me watching the movie that night was how much I hope that I couldn't. 

For me this a very personal choice. I do not think that everyone and their mom needs to be vegetarian. I don't think that it's right for everyone. To tell the absolute truth I'm not even 100% sure that it's right for me. I had this mystical vision of vegetarianism in which as soon as I said the words aloud to Kimberly, I would be inducted into the secret vegetarian club and suddenly all meat would repulse me, but that's not the case. I still crave meat. The other day my mom was cooking a steak and it smelled incredible and I almost cracked. And I catch myself feeling guilty, like I'm somehow betraying the vegetarian code by wanting to eat meat. 

But then I realize that guilt goes completely against my food philosophy, the most basic value of which is having a positive relationship with myself, my own body, and the food I eat. It involves acknowledging what I want and not feeling guilty about it.  In fact, guilt can be one of the biggest obstacles to me living out my food philosophy. So when I crave meat I am not going to feel guilty. I will continue to choose not to act on it as long as I feel like being a vegetarian is right for me and I'll keep loving what I eat. 

I guess the moral I'm getting at here is that whatever you eat, and wherever you are in your relationship to food and with your body (because I'm certain that after reading our blog, you, our faithful readers, now use the term "food relationship" without so much as a smirk or eye-roll), one of the most basic and important things you can do is show yourself grace.

Now to the recipe. This recipe is inspired by the man pictured below. I am a little in love with the man pictured below. His name is Gong Yoo and he is all kinds of adorable. One of my not-guilty pleasures is watching Korean dramas and Gong Yoo is one of my favorite actors. Watch "First Shop of Coffee Prince" and you'll see why.

Anyways, in Korean dramas, between the angst and the love triangles and the freaky-friday body switching, there is much eating of ramen. Hence, I was craving ramen, but not the packaged kind. I wanted real, homemade ramen. Ramen that would have the same comforting broth but that would actually make you feel like you were eating real food. I experimented with several ramen recipes and wasn't quite satisfied. I was trying too hard to pack the bowl full of too many flavors. The ramen I liked best ended up being the simplest combination - steaming the veggies instead of sautéing them to keep their flavor clean and fresh, seasoning the tofu with nothing other than salt and pepper, and thereby allowing the rich broth to carry the dish. I got a couple of packages of instant ramen, threw out the spice packets, boiled up the noodles, made the broth, piled on veggies, tofu, a drizzle of sriracha and hoisin sauce and got a big, colorful, comforting bowl of ramen.

Homemade Ramen Broth

4 cups vegetable broth
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce (or to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely minced

1 Package Instant Ramen
Assorted vegetables -  you can basically use anything in your fridge.
Tofu
Optional toppings: lime, cilantro, sriracha, hoisin sauce, green onions

1. Combine all ingredients for the broth and heat on medium-high heat.
2. Allow broth to maintain a low simmer for at least 20 minutes.
3. Sauté tofu in hot canola oil. Season with salt and pepper while cooking.
4. Remove tofu from pan and clean off any excess oil. Add 1/4-1/2 water to the same hot pan and add vegetables.
5. Allow the water to cook off and check veggies. Turn off the heat if done. If not, add more water.
6. While cooking the veggies, cook instant ramen noodles according to package instructions.
7. Drain noodles.
8. Add noodles, then veggies and tofu, then broth to a bowl and add toppings of your choosing.

White Pizza with Asparagus, Mushroom, and Sun-Dried Tomato

So...Kate and I are trying this thing where we make food. Separately. And post about it. Separately. Since she's all the way in Portland and I'm up here in Tacoma kickin' it without her, it seems like our days of happy communal eating and posting (well...when we weren't overwhelmed by schoolwork) are on a short hiatus. However, since we are us, we are not letting this short separation deter us from a summer of wonderful cooking followed by even more wonderful eating. And we've decided that the food blog will continue even though we won't technically be cooking or eating together most of the time. While this may be a slightly sad turn of events, it's also pretty exciting because - wait for it - you'll get to see my and Kate's individual chef flare! So, without further ado, here is what your resident crazy vegan gets up to when her non-vegan co-conspirator is not around...

Apparently mostly what I do is put random veggies in the food processor. 

...EAT ASPARAGUS!! Okay, so I also eat asparagus when Kate is here, but for the past few weeks, asparagus season has been going on full force here in Washington, and since I work at a farmer's market, I have been eating asparagus almost non-stop. Like, way more than is probably normal. Asparagus has been my constant side-dish for everything, has gone into a myriad of sandwiches and stir-frys, and, no joke, I even had asparagus for breakfast the other day. Needless to say, I've been looking for really creative ways to use up asparagus.

Look at that beautiful crust! Props to Marta for the fancy crust-shaping...

I would not normally think to put asparagus on a pizza. It's not a very intuitive pizza topping like olives or tomatoes or basil, but I've been craving pizza for a while now thanks to my new housemate Marta, who is a Pizza Guru (see: Master of Pizza or Professional Pizza-er). Basically, Marta also really likes to cook and while she is not a vegan chef,  she definitely has some pretty awesome pizza stylin' going on. In fact, the first day we met, Marta offered to make me pizza, and ever since I had to turn down her admittedly delicious-looking but unfortunately meat-and-cheese-covered pizza, I've had a secret plan to make a pizza of my own. And I just happened to have a bunch of asparagus lying around that I really needed to use. So. Asparagus on a pizza. Marta, being a Pizza Guru, was on hand to make helpful suggestions and teach me the art of Beautiful Crust-Making.

I actually got the idea for this particular pizza where I get most of my inspiration for eating: Pinterest. Now, before you judge me, Pinterest is actually a really cool thing for foodies because you can save all the random internet recipes you find in one place AND all of them are saved as PICTURES. I don't know about you, but looking at food is about 3/4 of what gets me excited about eating food. It's nice because when I'm not sure what I want for dinner, I can go look at a bunch of really good-looking food pictures THAT I PICKED OUT and THAT HAVE RECIPES ATTACHED TO THEM. Anyways, the other day I found a pin claiming diary-free white sauce made from cauliflower that tastes just like the real thing. And I had to try it.

The white sauce comes from Sodium Girl's post here, but if you read her post and leave expecting a sauce that tastes like milk, butter, and cheese, I would tell you to not believe everything you read on Pinterest. I hate to break it to you, but this sauce does not taste like that. Don't get me wrong - it's creamy and garlic-y and gets kind of bubbly and crisp-y on top when baked, but it also tastes like cauliflower. Not cheese. The original recipe just used cauliflower and water, but I am not one to skimp, so I fattened it up a little with some olive oil, almond milk, and nutritional yeast for a more savory, cheese-y flavor. It turned out really well AND was a great pair for the copious amounts of asparagus I have lying around. I of course added my mother's homemade whole wheat pizza crust and - voilà! - PIZZA! 

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough*

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 envelope active dry yeast

1 plus 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Thyme, rosemary, or other fresh or dried herbs (optional)

1.  Combine the sugar, warm water, and yeast in a bowl and let sit five minutes, or until the surface is bubbly.

2.  Add 1 cup all purpose flour (save the 1/4 cup), whole wheat flour, salt, and olive oil and combine. You can also add any fresh or dried herbs to the dough at this point, a fantastic idea from my resident pizza guru Marta that makes a really delicious crust. I added about 2 tsp of thyme. 

3.  Knead the dough for fifteen minutes on a floured surface, adding the 1/4 cup as necessary until the dough is only slightly sticky.  

4.  Place in a large bowl, cover with a towel, and let sit for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, or until the dough doubles in size.

5.  Punch the dough down - it is now ready to roll out!

*this recipe comes from an ancient pizza cookbook of my mother's and is absolutely delicious!

Cauliflower "White" Pizza Sauce

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1 head garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

2 tsp oregano

1/4 - 1/2 cup almond milk

salt and pepper to taste

1. Roast the head of garlic. To do this, cut off the top of the head, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap in tinfoil. Place in the oven at 400°F for at least 20 minutes, or until very soft. Let cool.

2. Steam the cauliflower florets. 

3. Combine the streamed cauliflower florets and the roasted garlic (you can just squeeze it right out of the skin once it's cooled) in a food processor. Add the olive oil, nutritional yeast, and oregano and blend.

4. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk) until the sauce is your desired consistency - I left mine a little thick so it would be easily spreadable. Add salt and pepper to taste.  

White Pizza Assembly

Whole wheat pizza dough

Cauliflower "white" pizza sauce

6 stalks of asparagus, cut into 1-inch sections

6 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, sliced 

Sliced sun-dried tomatoes

Daiya mozzarella cheeze (optional)

1. Roll out pizza dough and place on a pizza pan or cookie sheet (fancy schmancy crust rolling in my pictures is thanks to my pizza-talented housemate Marta!)

2. Spread on a thick layer of the cauliflower pizza sauce. I personally like my pizza saucy, so I put on a LOT.

3. Layer on asparagus chunks, mushroom slices, onion slices, and sun-dried tomatoes.

4. Finish with a little bit of Daiya cheeze on top or actual cheese (optional).  

**As I mentioned before in this post, I got the idea for this pizza sauce (and the pizza) at Sodium Girl, here. You should check her out - she's got some great stuff!**

Korean BBQ Tofu Tacos

Last summer, I stayed in the Pacific Northwest for the first time, and was able to visit Kate at her home in Portland, Oregon. When I arrived, I was treated to a wonderful tour of the city which involved multiple surprise stops, including the rose gardens, Powell's City of Books, and, my personal favorite, the food carts in downtown Portland. It all played out a bit like a romantic movie montage - Kate and I shared food from almost every cart, and sat by some fountains watching a wedding and multiple adorable children splashing around, all while the sun was shining brightly and downtown was bursting with Portlanders starving for sun. We both remember the day fondly and fervently hope that we will one day experience a real romantic date that fulfills this level of awesomeness. One of the things we most vividly remember, however, is a Korean BBQ fusion food cart, where we bought some of the most fabulous tacos of our existence - Korean BBQ tofu tacos. While at first they sounded a bit odd, the combination of corn tortillas and the sweet-savory Asian-inspired barbeque sauce was so good that we practically licked the cardboard container they came in, despite having already eaten enough to qualify about three meals.

The infamous food cart tacos

Fast forward a year, and I am again staying in the Pacific Northwest for the summer. Today, while visiting Kate in Portland, we decided to stop downtown for some Korean BBQ tofu tacos, assuming that we would find them with ease. However, while downtown searching around the food carts, we realized several important details we had missed. Firstly, we don't know the name of the food cart. Also, food carts, as their name might imply, move. We ran across two carts selling fusion Korean food, and while only one was open, they had tofu tacos, and we got some. No luck - they were not the warm, messy goodness we were expecting. They were good, but not great. 

Kimberly enjoying said tacos on the best date of her life.

Undeterred, we ate several other lovely things at the food carts and spent the rest of the afternoon happily watching the dragon boat races on the waterfront. But after a year spent thinking about how wonderful those tacos had been, it was still something of a let-down to not find them. While we fully intend to find that food cart again, Kate and I decided on an even more expedient solution: We would attempt to make them ourselves!

After searching the internet for likely-looking recipes (surprisingly, there are several Korean BBQ tofu taco recipes out there), none of which looked at all like the tacos in our hearts, we decided to just make up the recipe ourselves based on the one picture we have of that fateful day. We wanted lightly seasoned tofu smothered with a rich, smoky sauce, and completed with some salty roasted seaweed (nori), which had given the tofu tacos a more Asian flavor. 

Our attempt wasn't actually that far off. In fact, it was a lot closer to the original tacos than the tacos we ate at the food carts today. We only put things we could see in the picture (and what we could remember) on the tacos, so the assembly is really simple. The avocado is an added bonus which we don't think was originally there, but we firmly believe avocados make everything better. Best of all, these tacos are as messy and saucy as we remember the originals being, and there is no greater sign of good food than having to lick it off your fingers and face. You've been warned - bring a napkin.

Korean BBQ Sauce

1 cup ketchup

3/4 cup soy sauce*

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

3 Tbs honey

4 Tbsp brown sugar (or to taste, depending on how sweet you want your sauce)

2 tsp fresh ginger, minced

2 tsp garlic, minced

1 shallot, diced

1 tsp cayenne

2 Tbsp water

1. Combine all ingredients.

*We might recommend slightly less soy sauce, as the final product was a bit salty.

Tofu Marinade

2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced

2 tsp garlic, minced

Equal parts soy sauce and rice wine vinegar - enough to cover at least half of the tofu while marinating.

1. Combine all ingredients.

Korean BBQ Tofu Taco Assembly

1 Tbsp canola oil
corn tortillas
sliced cabbage
diced avocado
nori slices
cilantro
limes (optional)
sriracha (optional)

1. Drain tofu by placing between two paper towels and weighting the top with plate or bowl. Wait about fifteen to twenty minutes.

2. Place tofu in a plastic bag with the marinade. Marinate for at least half an hour in the refrigerator, making sure to turn the tofu so that all sides get covered.

3. Heat canola oil in large skillet. Cut tofu into thin slices, and fry in oil for about 4 minutes on each side.

4. Lay out corn tortillas. Put on cooked tofu, sliced cabbage, avocado, nori, and drizzle with Korean BBQ sauce. Top with cilantro, lime, and sriracha if desired.

Spicy Moroccan Hummus

 

 

We have decided that spring break is a cruel joke. Just as you have begun to establish a sleep-at-least-12-hours-a-night-and-don't-do-homework-for-more-than-15-minutes schedule, you are thrust suddenly back into the middle of the semester. And it's all uphill from here.

 

 

I think that collectively we might have gotten around 4 hours of sleep a night the week before break and coming back was like a slap in the face. Even as I am aware that I have hours of homework to do, I still somehow haven't managed to convince myself that I am no longer on vacation.The other morning Kimberly and I had both dragged ourselves out of bed at 6AM, and as we stared at each other catatonically over our toothbrushes, we both clearly agreed on one thing: it was too early.

 

But if there's one good thing that came from spring break, it's that we got a taste for good food and aren't about to deprive ourselves again. Despite our somewhat mushy post earlier about how important taking time for good food is, we admit that sometimes we fail to live out our own food philsophy. In fact, in the hectic weeks before spring break, we might have been reduced to eating pancakes for every meal of the day at least once. But those days are over. Or at least we're trying to put an end to them (they were dark days).

While we're still really busy now, and will be until the end of the semester in May, this week we've been focusing our energy on quick, healthy foods. Even though we didn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen, at least for our standards, I think it's safe to say that we loved what we ate this week.

Nonetheless, we do have something to admit. Homework isn't the only thing that we have been known to procrastinate on. This hummus recipe has actually been a rough draft for quite a while and although we didn't eat hummus this week, we're only just getting around to posting it. Fom my faint recollection of it, it was delicious. And it's really easy - you just throw things in a blender. Soaking the chickpeas is the only forethought necessary and if you're using canned chickpeas, it's not even an issue. Homemade hummus always tastes creamier to me, and this recipe came out garlicky and wonderful.

Basically, what we're trying to say is, you can't always have it all together. Sometimes you eat pancakes for lunch (and dinner) and sometimes you have to post a recipe from two months ago just to get back into blogging. And sometimes, even though you really believe in eating good food, you have to come back to the kitchen with a fresh perspective.

Spicy Moroccan Hummus

3 cups cooked chickpeas (1 cup dry or 2 cans, roughly)
6 - 8 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp tahini (sesame seed butter)
2 Tbsp Moroccan seasoning*
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sriracha (or other hot sauce), to taste
1/4 - 1/2 cup water

*Moroccan seasoning is a mix of several Middle-Eastern spices like cumin and coriander.  The seasoning we used was a gift from Kimberly's mother, who discovered this particular spice mix at a spice market and has been crazy about it ever since.  You can find recipes for Moroccan spice mixes such as this one or this one online, but you can also buy it at specialty spice markets or online - I believe this is similar to what Kimberly's mom has)

1.  Combine all ingredients except water in a food processor.  Blend thoroughly.  

2.  Add water and blend until hummus is your desired consistency.

 

3.  Enjoy on sandwiches, with cut veggies, or with salted pita chips!  :) 

The Ultimate Vegan Pancake Post

Kate and I have a confession to make:  We eat pancakes.  Like, a lot of pancakes.  Like, we make pancakes at least three times a week even on days when we don't have time to make pancakes, and own virtually no other breakfast food.  Okay, we eat oatmeal sometimes.  But seriously, Kate and I are pancake-a-holics and we go through syrup almost as quickly as we go through peanut butter, which is definitely saying something.  Although, considering we like to put peanut butter on pancakes, I guess that also makes sense.  We are such pancake connoisseurs that we like to experiment with different pancake toppings, and this past Sunday, we spent two hours (during which we probably should have been doing homework) playing around with different pancake ideas.  This is the result of that.      

Our basic whole wheat pancake recipe is one we've been using for quite a while because it's literally the easiest thing to remember.  It only has five ingredients, and all of them can be substituted for something else.  Don't have almond milk?  Use soy.  Don't like soy?  Use regular milk.  Don't have any type of milk?  Use water (this works - we've tried - just put in less than the 2 1/2 cups).  Basically, this is a hard recipe to mess up.  Thanks to the whole wheat flour, it also really sticks to your ribs, so you don't have to eat many of them to feel full.  Of course, Kate and I also routinely ignore this and just eat a ton.  

Hearty Whole Wheat Pancakes

2 cups whole wheat flour

6 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups almond milk

1.  Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Add more almond milk if batter is not wet enough - this batter is meant to be thick as it makes hearty pancakes, but it shouldn't resemble dough.  

2.  Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and warm over medium heat.

3.  Drop batter onto skillet 1/4 cup at a time.  Cook until brown on one side (about 4 minutes), and then flip and brown on the other side or until center is cooked all the way through.  

4.  Serve with Earth Balance (or butter) and syrup!  

This recipe is so simple that it's really fun to modify.  Here are some of our suggestions:

Dark chocolate-chip peanut butter pancakes:

Handful dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup chunky, natural peanut butter
maple syrup

1.  Add a sprinkle of chocolate chips to the pancake batter as it cooks.  Flip and cook all the way through.

2.  Serve with a generous dollop of chunky peanut butter and a drizzle of maple syrup (This is Kate and I's all-time favorite combination).

 Honey Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Half an apple, diced
about 2 tsp cinnamon, plus more for optional garnish
honey

1.  Sprinkle finely-diced apple over the pancake batter as it cooks.  Top with a dash of cinnamon on each pancake.

2.  Flip and cook all the way through.

3.  Serve with a drizzle of honey and more cinnamon if desired.  

Jam, Butter, and Brown Sugar Pancakes

1/2 cup raspberry jam (or other type of jam)

2 Tbsp Earth Balance (or regular butter)

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1.  Put a large dollop of jam in the center of each uncooked pancake.  

2.  Flip and cook as normal.  

3.  Serve with a pat of Earth Balance and a sprinkle of brown sugar.  

Vegetable Sushi

The other night Kimberly and I were having a few friends over and we happened to have a little leftover sake (Japaense rice wine). We had also been looking forward to making a return trip to Paldo World, our favorite Korean grocery store (ok let's be real, it's the only Korean grocery strore we know of). Basically, all things considered, we really wanted to make sushi.



Modeling provided by the lovely Jennie Greb :)



We love sushi. In fact, we love it so much that we use any excuse to make it. Last year, for example, we had a memorable Cinco de Mayo, complete with the traditional meal of sushi and ice cream. And Avatar the Last Airbender, of course (the tv show, the movie sucked). I'm sure you can add sushi to many other holidays - Easter, Halloween, and Fourth of July are all acceptable options in our opinion.

We also just like making sushi for the additional benefit of feeling like real, professional chefs. Sushi looks so put together and complicated when it is in reality surprisingly simple. The only thing you really have to cook is the rice and you can put in just about any veggies that you have on hand. And even though vegetable sushi is just vegetables and rice, it turns out to be a filling meal. 

Anyways, normally Kimberly and I put the standard carrots, cucumbers and mushrooms into our sushi, but this time walking through Paldo World, we got a little creative. Shopping in Paldo World is always a bit of an adventure. There are so many things to see, a number of unfamiliar languages being spoken, and an unlikely amount of soy sauces to choose from. It took a solid 20 minutes to find some wasabi paste. When we had finally found everything on our list and we were headed towards the check-out, my eye was caught by something shockingly yellow in the refrigerated section. It didn't look like it could possibly be something organic, but it turned out to be pickled radish.

Between Kimberly and I, we somehow managed to convince ourselves that we should buy three large stalks of pickled radish to put in our sushi. Doubt set in as soon as we got home, opened the packaging, and were greeted by an entirely unappetizing odor. However, we persevered, and the strips of bright yellow were a very aesthetically pleasing addition to our sushi (and actually tasted pretty good). We're not necessarily advocating that you buy this for your sushi, because while it was pretty and tasted good, about a week after sushi we still have two and a half stalks of pickled radish in our fridge and no way to use them. If you know of any recipes that involve pickled radishes, please feel free to put them in the comments. Help a girl out.

And Jennie again demonstrates her superior sushi-making skills.

Vegetable Sushi:

3 cups sushi rice

10 sheets nori

Sushi mat
3/4 cup rice vinegar, divided
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 small cucumbers (or 1 large), julienned
1 large carrot, julienned
1 lb. crimini mushrooms, sliced
Pickled ginger
1 avacado, sliced
Pickled radish (optional)
Black sesame seeds (optional)
Wasabi, sriracha, and soy sauce for serving (optional)

1. Cook the sushi rice, usually 1 cup rice to 1 cup water. Set aside and let cool (you will want to let it cool - trying to evenly spread hot sushi rice is painful).

2. Place sliced mushrooms in a medium bowl with 1/2 cup rice vinegar and 1/4 cup soy sauce and fill with water until the mushrooms are covered with liquid. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes.





3. Put the remaining rice vinegar in a bowl - you will need this later to keep the sushi rice from sticking to your hands (doesn't always work as well as advertized).

4. Now you will begin learning the art of rolling sushi. This is not as hard as it sounds.

First, put 1 sheet of nori on your sushi mat, shiny side down. In as thin a layer as possible, spread the sushi rice over about 2/3 of the nori sheet, leaving a two-inch strip at the top riceless (naked). Make sure to press the rice down firmly so that it all sticks together in a compact layer. It is important to make sure that the rice goes all the way to the bottom and side edges. If (when) the rice gets stuck to your fingers, dip them in the rice vinegar, and maybe even spread a little on the rice itself.

About an inch up from the bottom of the nori sheet (the side with the rice on it), lay out vegetables of your choice in a thin line. While it is tempting to pile on a good heaping, you will want to keep it fairly small because the smaller it is, the easier it is to roll (we're not doubting you here, just warning you).





Starting on the end with the rice and vegetables, carefully begin rolling upwards (towards the end without the rice), using your sushi mat. Go slowly and as tightly as you can, making sure not to roll your sushi mat into your sushi roll (this is an unpleasant effect). Once you reach the end, use your finger to spread a line of rice vinegar on the very top edge of the nori (the part with no rice). This will seal the roll. Finish the roll and give your sushi a little "squeeze" to make sure it all stays together.

5. Using a serated knife (really, no other kind of knife, or your sushi will come out looking slightly mangled), cut your sushi roll into one-inch sections. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with wasabi, soy sauce, and sriracha if desired.





 

Photo credit: Lillian Ferraz