Vegan MoFo, Day 5: Sushi and Roe (yes, roe!)

But not the kind you're imagining...

I drew a bit of inspiration from the penultimate foodie on this one, Anthony Bourdain.

He and I go way back. I watched his show, No Reservations, long before going vegan. And then even afterwards, though visibly cringing at the times in which he chided vegans. I've read several of his books. Kitchen Confidential, according to my husband, who worked in a kitchen, is straight up Truthiness. (It also concerns me that The Hubs thought the same thing about that movie Waiting, but I digress).

So, when pondering foodie-type dishes before Vegan MoFo began, I looked to him. Then my brain swirled back...way back...through the thesis and work and yoga thoughts, and all of that stuff. And it came to rest on a single scene I remembered from Bourdain's show a while back.

It brought me to tomato roe.

While visiting a super-awesomely-rad chef, Bourdain was treated to a version of roe made of tomato. I remember thinking, "How simple and cool is that? I should totally try that out." But, of course, being that my brain is crowded, the thought flitted away to be stored in a tucked-away place for much later.

"Basic Veggie Sushi a 3-Year-Old Could Make and Some Fake Roe"

makes a gigantic portion of sushi that I ate all by myself, plus some leftover rice I should have saved but didn't

2 sheets of nori

2 cups dry jasmine rice (it's what I had)

3 cups water

1 cup low fat coconut milk (leftover from curry part deux the night before)

S&P

a few tablespoons mirin

1/2 cucumber, seeds removed and sliced into sticks

1 carrot, sliced into sticks

1/2 avocado, sliced

3 green onions (as is)

1/8 cup cilantro leaves (also as is)

1 tomato (cut top and bottom off, then slice away the tomato flesh on the outside of where the seeds are, carefully, then slice out the pockets of seeds)

sauce

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

squirt of Sriracha

1 tsp mirin

1 tsp lime juice

S&P

onion powder

Mix rice, water, coconut milk, S&P in a pan and cook (covered) until rice is tender. Let it cool with the lid off. Once cooled a bit, mix in part of mirin, stir and fan rice. Keep adding mirin, fanning, and stirring until rice is sticky and cooled more.

Prep veggies while rice is cooking. Lay out nori on a plate covered with a sheet of plastic wrap. Spoon rice onto nori sheet, leaving about an inch at the top of the sheet bare. Place veggies (not tomato) across middle of rice and roll it up. You might have to dab a little water on the bare edge of nori to get it to stick to the roll.

Slice in half and then into rounds. Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Watch it on the sriracha--that stuff squirts out quickly sometimes. Evil.

Form additional rice into oblong balls. This is messy but fun! Top each ball with the tomato "roe."

{isn't the "roe" pretty? and not in a hurtful way, either}

I was one happy MoFo after this meal, truth be told. Still don't think Bourdain would have been proud, though. I'll keep trying.

Jes