Sausage Nori Roll
1 veggie sausage (I like sun dried tomato)
1 teaspoon canola oil
1/2 cup cooked medium grain brown rice
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
2 nori sheets
10 baby spinach leaves
6 baby carrots, quartered lengthwise
1 plum tomato, chopped
1. Cut the veggie sausage into thirds lengthwise, then each of those into 1/2 lengthwise. Cook in the oil until crispy on each side. Heat the rice to a little over room temperature, if it was in the refrigerator.
2. Sprinkle the vinegar onto the 2 sheets of nori and spread around with your fingers. Divide the rice onto them, piling it along 1 side of the square.
3. Add the spinach, sausage, carrots and tomato. Start to roll, squeezing the filling back as you go and folding 1 end in. (If you have a sushi mat, even better.)
4. Use a little vinegar to wet the nori so It'll stick to itself if you need more at the end of rolling.
I mix some wasabi and soy sauce in a little sake cup and pour it down into the roll as I eat it.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Structural failure for me. The nori fell apart, which may have been because my rice was a little wet or because I used too much rice vinegar. I also didn't slice the carrots thinly enough, so they poked through. Watching me try to eat what I created was probably like watching a car crash in slow motion, but I was too hungry to be deterred by messiness. It was a pretty tasty mess though, so I guess I'll have to try this again.
This reminds me of something they sell in the gas stations here in Honolulu. It's a whole hot dog, wrapped in sushi rice, and then wrapped in a sheet of nori. Instead of cutting it crosswise into individual sushi portions, they leave it whole and people eat it like a hot dog in a bun. Being vegetarian, I've never tried this local specialty, but this recipe has given me the idea to go make my own!