Last night I received a surprise and a gift by way of a phone call. It was my long lost friend, Ester, from Zurich, Switzerland, who I haven’t heard from in ages. I was thrilled to hear from her after all this time and know that she is doing well. We had so much catching up to do it was impossible to cram the missed years and events into one phone call, especially a long distance call.
One of the things we reminisced about was our mutual interest in languages, Japanese in particular, and how it brought us together. We meet in a Japanese class in college and became study buddies. We laughed at how enchanted we were about everything Japanese – the language, the culture, the boys, and the food, of course.
All that admiration for all things Japanese planted the seeds that lead both of us at different times to that magnificent country. I was fortunate to visit Japan twice spending 4 months in total in Tokyo, a truly fascinating city. One thing about both of us remains the same; we affirmed that we are still captivated with all things Japanese.
This morning, not surprising, I found myself craving Japanese food. My craving guided me not to the nearest Japanese restaurant but to Natural Living Cuisine (my other site that currently rest dormant). I searched for my Winter Nori Roll recipe and thankfully had all the ingredients need to make this recipe, well all except one, celeriac. I ventured out in hopes of finding this knobby root vegetable but unfortunately didn’t so as a stand-in, I used slices of fennel.
Originally, I made a Sesame Orange Dipping Sauce to accompany Winter Nori Roll. This dipping sauce is on the thicker side, but today I whipped up a thinner and lighter sauce, see recipe below.
Bon appétit, or as they say in Japanese, Itadakimasu!
Winter Nori Roll
Original recipe posted here
1 cup celeriac, julienne, or fennel slices
1 cup beetroot, julienne
½ cup kale, cut into thin strips
½ avocado, cut into slices
¼ cup red onion, cut into thin slices
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed from the stem
3 sheets raw noriWash all the vegetables [beetroot, celeriac, kale] well. Cut kale into thin strips. Peel outer skin of the beetroot and celeriac. Cut avocado in half; reserve one half for another use. Cut avocado into ½ inch lengthwise strips. Cut red onion in half, then take one half and cut ¼ inch thick and separate onion shards. Remove rosemary from sprig.
Assembly
Lay raw nori sheet on cutting board. Starting at one end of the raw nori roll and ½ inch from the edge, place julienne celeriac along the width of the sheet. Next place beetroot in same manner next to the celeriac, then the kale strips next to the root vegetables, then the red onion strips, rosemary leaves and two to three avocado slices atop. Roll up nori tightly, compressing while rolling. To secure, dip your fingertips or a pastry brush in fresh filtered water and run along the exposed edge of the nori rolls. Gently squeeze and press to secure.
Cut the nori roll into desired sized. I wanted big rolls so I cut each roll in half. Arrange nori rolls on a plate and serve with a dipping sauce of your choice.
Makes 6 pieces cut in half; 12 3-inch sushi rolls cut in thirds or 24 1-inch sushi rolls, cut in thirds, then the thirds cut in half.
Ginger Garlic Dipping Sauce
For those of you who may prefer a thicker dipping sauce, try Sesame Orange Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
½ an orange, fresh squeezed
1 tablespoon Namu Shoya
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 small garlic clove, chopped
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Place all ingredients in a blender, ideally a smaller personal blender, like this one and blend until smoothie.
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Last night I received a surprise and a gift by way of a phone call. It was my long lost friend, Ester, from Zurich, Switzerland, who I haven’t heard from in ages. I was thrilled to hear from her after all this time and know that she is doing well. We had so much catching up to do it was impossible to cram the missed years and events into one phone call, especially a long distance call.
One of the things we reminisced about was our mutual interest in languages, Japanese in particular, and how it brought us together. We meet in a Japanese class in college and became study buddies. We laughed at how enchanted we were about everything Japanese – the language, the culture, the boys, and the food, of course.
All that admiration for all things Japanese planted the seeds that lead both of us at different times to that magnificent country. I was fortunate to visit Japan twice spending 4 months in total in Tokyo, a truly fascinating city. One thing about both of us remains the same; we affirmed that we are still captivated with all things Japanese.
This morning, not surprising, I found myself craving Japanese food. My craving guided me not to the nearest Japanese restaurant but to Natural Living Cuisine (my other site that currently rest dormant). I searched for my Winter Nori Roll recipe and thankfully had all the ingredients need to make this recipe, well all except one, celeriac. I ventured out in hopes of finding this knobby root vegetable but unfortunately didn’t so as a stand-in, I used slices of fennel.
Originally, I made a Sesame Orange Dipping Sauce to accompany Winter Nori Roll. This dipping sauce is on the thicker side, but today I whipped up a thinner and lighter sauce, see recipe below.
Bon appétit, or as they say in Japanese, Itadakimasu!
Winter Nori Roll
Original recipe posted here
1 cup beetroot, julienne
½ cup kale, cut into thin strips
½ avocado, cut into slices
¼ cup red onion, cut into thin slices
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed from the stem
3 sheets raw nori
Wash all the vegetables [beetroot, celeriac, kale] well. Cut kale into thin strips. Peel outer skin of the beetroot and celeriac. Cut avocado in half; reserve one half for another use. Cut avocado into ½ inch lengthwise strips. Cut red onion in half, then take one half and cut ¼ inch thick and separate onion shards. Remove rosemary from sprig.
Assembly
Lay raw nori sheet on cutting board. Starting at one end of the raw nori roll and ½ inch from the edge, place julienne celeriac along the width of the sheet. Next place beetroot in same manner next to the celeriac, then the kale strips next to the root vegetables, then the red onion strips, rosemary leaves and two to three avocado slices atop. Roll up nori tightly, compressing while rolling. To secure, dip your fingertips or a pastry brush in fresh filtered water and run along the exposed edge of the nori rolls. Gently squeeze and press to secure.
Cut the nori roll into desired sized. I wanted big rolls so I cut each roll in half. Arrange nori rolls on a plate and serve with a dipping sauce of your choice.
Makes 6 pieces cut in half; 12 3-inch sushi rolls cut in thirds or 24 1-inch sushi rolls, cut in thirds, then the thirds cut in half.
Ginger Garlic Dipping Sauce
For those of you who may prefer a thicker dipping sauce, try Sesame Orange Dipping Sauce
½ an orange, fresh squeezed
1 tablespoon Namu Shoya
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 small garlic clove, chopped
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Place all ingredients in a blender, ideally a smaller personal blender, like this one and blend until smoothie.
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