Curry Roasted Sweet Potato Sushi Roll



Curry Roasted Sweet Potato Sushi Roll



One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday night with Ben is stay in and cook dinner together. I find it far more appealing than sitting at some crowded restaurant, and I also love the fact that we can control what goes into our food. Call me a control freak (really, I don’t mind), but I prefer to cook my own meals because it is just easier on everyone. I have some significant food allergies which make me a bit of a pain in the butt to cook for, and I really, really hate to be that person, so in my opinion, cooking together is a perfect date night in.

A few months back, Ben and I went on an excursion to Bed Bath & Beyond, which, by the way, is the worst store to go in for someone like myself. It’s as if they coat everything in glitter there, making even the most mundane of appliances appealing to me. I always go in with one thing in mind, but never leave with less than a cart of things I don’t need. On this particular trip, we went in initially wanting to find a curly fry cutter (which we didn’t), but we did come across a bamboo sushi mat that piqued my interest. I have always liked the idea of making my own sushi, but found it to be somewhat of an intimidating process. It just seemed like a lot of work, and I won’t tell you that it isn’t, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. The process can actually be pretty fun if you crank up some music and pour yourself a glass of wine. I find that those two things generally make the cooking process more of an experience and less like a chore, but that could just be me.

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Curry Roasted Sweet Potato Sushi Roll



Sushi is such a fun meal to create because it is completely customizable. You can add pretty much anything, well, almost anything that your heart desires without having to worry about messing it up. This particular Curry Roasted Sweet Potato Roll was a concoction I made up using some of my leftover Coconut Curry Roasted Sweet Potatoes from the night before. The combination of the potatoes with sprouts, avocado, green onions, cucumber and red pepper turned out to be my ideal veggie roll, and nothing has been able to beat it for me yet. Add in a little Sriracha and Liquid Aminos in place of soy sauce, and the combination is heavenly.

While I wish I had the ability to show you the basics of how a sushi roll is constructed, I am not nearly as skilled as MakeSushi, which is an incredible website with virtually every answer to any question you have on rolling and making sushi. This video in particular was the video that taught me how to roll.

 For the sushi rolls in this recipe, you will need to make the recipe for my Coconut Curry Roasted Sweet Potatoes as well as the recipe for my brown sushi rice (listed below) in advance. Once these two things are made, the actual sushi assembly process is pretty simple. I highly encourage you to give sushi making a try the next time you find yourself with some extra time on your hands, and a desire to get creative in the kitchen. Play around with the ingredients and customize it to fit your taste buds, but most importantly, have fun with it!

Coconut Curry Sweet Potato Recipe

Curry Roasted Sweet Potato Sushi Roll
 
Cuisine: sushi
Author: The Lean Clean Eating Machine
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2 rolls
A delicious brown rice veggie roll with a unique and spicy twist.
Ingredients
  • Follow directions for Coconut Curry Sweet Potatoes linked above, but use only 1 medium sweet potato.
  • Bamboo sushi rolling mat
  • 1/2 small organic cucumber; sliced and cut into quarters
  • 1/2 ripe avocado; cubed; brushed with a little lemon juice to keep from browning
  • 1 small handful organic sprouts
  • 1 scallion; sliced
  • 1/4 red bell pepper; thinly sliced, then halved
  • 1 cup short grain brown rice
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 Tbsp. stevia
  • 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2 nori sheets
  • Sprinkle of sesame seeds (optional)
  • Sriracha (optional)
  • Liquid Aminos (optional)
Instructions
  1. In a medium pan, bring brown rice and water to a boil. It is important to use the short grain variety because it is stickier than traditional brown rice. Once at a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium/low, simmering for 50 minutes.
  2. While rice is cooking, prepare recipe for Coconut Curry Sweet Potatoes (linked above).
  3. When rice is finished, remove lid and remove from heat. Stir. combine stevia, rice vinegar and salt in a small dish, whisking thoroughly. Pour mix over rice evenly, then stir to make sure that rice is well coated with mixture.
  4. Let rice cool to room temperature before using it for sushi rolls.
  5. When potatoes are finished, remove from over and also let cool until they are at room temperature.
  6. On a clean surface lay down bamboo sushi mat, and place one sheet of nori on top of it, shiny side down.
  7. Grab a small dish with cool water to wet fingers and begin to gently lay out the rice, spreading it outward to the edges. Ensure even coverage over the entire sheet of nori, leaving a 1/2″ space at the end to seal the roll.
  8. Top rice with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. (optional)
  9. About 1/4 of the way in, begin to lay down vegetables evenly across (width wise), starting with sprouts, then adding on a single layer of cucumber slices, red pepper slices, sweet potato, avocado and green onions. Be careful not to over-stuff your roll with fillings because it will not form correctly. Less is more.
  10. Bring up the edge of the mat closest to you with both hands. Use your middle fingers to keep the contents in place as you curl the mat over the filling. As the edge of the mat comes over the filling, use your fingers to compress it gently. Apply firm pressure to secure it, and continue to roll doing the same until you reach the empty 1/2″ space of nori.
  11. Lightly wet fingers and run across the empty nori edge. This will help seal your roll as it reaches the end.
  12. Repeat process for second roll.
  13. Take finished roll and wrap fairly tight in saran wrap. Refrigerate roll for about 10 minutes to let it firm up. When finished, remove saran wrap and place roll on cutting board.
  14. With a very sharp, non-serrated knife, gently cut 1/4″-1/2″ size rolls, carefully wiping off the knife blade each time to remove any fillings stuck to the blade.
  15. Serve and enjoy!
 
Notes
These rolls save really well for about a day in the fridge.

 

 

 

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