Forbidden Sushi

Hearty recipes for heady homies
by Alex Brown and Evan George

To serious vegetarians and vegans, fish is verboten. And that’s just too bad, especially considering most veggie rolls are pathetic (tomato and cucumber is a waste of rice). Here, we’ve used miso shiitakes to mimic the rubbery protein of raw fish. The crisp compliment of cucumber is awesome, as long as it isn’t the main dish, and of course buttery avocado. Instead of sticky sushi rice, we used forbidden rice. The purple-black color is a nice change—much more wholesome than the bleached shit.

Vegan Sushi Rolls
1 cup forbidden rice (purple grain)
2 cups water
1 Tbs. seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup water
1 Tbs. miso paste
6-8 shiitake mushrooms, sliced in long strips
1 cucumber, peeled and refrigerated
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and halved
4 sheets of Grade-A toasted nori seaweed

1. Bring a small saucepan of rice and water to boil. Cook until rice is slightly goopy (about 20 minutes). Strain any excess water. Cover a metal cooking sheet with wax paper and place rice on sheet. Spread rice evenly to cool and place sheet in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, or until fully cool to the touch.
2. Place a sauté pan on high heat and toast the shallots for about 5 minutes. Then add the water and miso paste, stirring to dissolve. Place on medium heat and add sliced mushrooms. Let the broth bubble for 5 minutes, or until mushrooms are cooked but not significantly smaller in size. Remove shrooms and set aside, but let broth continue to cook down.
3. Take your peeled cucumber, cut it in half and then slice lengthwise so you have four wide slices. With a spoon, gently remove seeds. Slice cucumber into noodle thin slices. Slice your avocado into thin slices and set aside.
4. Place your dry nori seaweed on a wooden sushi roller (can be found in some Asian markets). Distribute 4 or 5 Tbs. of forbidden rice onto nori, making sure there is room at the top of seaweed to wet for rolling. Top the rice with other fillings, in a straight line that sits closer to the bottom of seaweed than to the top (as shown above). Then gingerly place shitake strips, cucumber and avocado in a tight line with a width of no more than an inch.
5. Grabbing the bottom of the nori, the edge closest to you, begin flipping over into a tight roll, using the wooden roller to provide support. Pretend you’re rolling a sushi joint. Roll just short of the end, leaving a 1-inch space at the top to wet the seaweed, then roll fully and apply tight pressure. (It may take a few attempts to master this motion, keep trying!)
6. Hold the finished roll tightly, and carefully cut into 5 or 6 1-inch pieces.
7. Remove miso broth from heat and mix with soy sauce for a savory dippin’ sauce.
8. Serve pieces with wasabi and miso soy sauce.

Soundtrack: the Black Angels’ Passover
Beverage: King Cobra 40-ouncer

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