Confessions Of A Sushi Addict: Lose The Mercury & Roll With This

My name is Meredith and I'm a sushi addict.

It's easy to get stuck in the thinking that eating sushi means eating healthy. While it very well can be healthy fare, not many of us realize that you may be consuming a lot more calories, carbs, sugars, and toxins than expected. Most of our sushi restaurants are catered to the American palate. This means adding mirin (which is a sweetner often containing corn syrup) to seaweed salads and rice. Also many sushi spots put about a cup of rice into each roll....and how many rolls are you ordering??? And what about that heaping load of mercury in the fish?? That's not even getting into all the unmentionables of tempura'ed this and spicy mayo'ed that.

So...here i am to the rescue again, with a recipe for raw nori pate (that can be stuffed in anything, doesn't have to be sushi) to please the palate of the sushi conossoir who wants their sushi but knows their limits. Be wise and choose raw fish on occasion, but enjoy veggie sushi without rice on a regular basis.

You'll need a juicer and a food processor.

ingredients for the pate:

5 carrots juiced - we'll use the entire pulp that juicer extracts and 4 1/2 Tbsp of the juice
1/2 c. raw walnuts
1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil (not considered a raw product)
1 tsp agave nectar
1 1/2 tsp nama shoyu
1 inch slice red pepper chopped
1 thinly chopped green onion
Cayenne optional (for spicy version)

Making the vegan pate for the nori rolls:

Juice the 5 carrots. Set juice and pulp aside.
Put the walnuts into a food processor fitted with an S blade and process down to the size of a pebble to a piece of sand
Into the walnuts in the food processor place the pulp of the juiced carrots plus 4 1/2 Tbsp of the carrot juice
Continue to add the remaining ingredients. Process and scrape sides down as you do. If you choose to make your nori spicy add cayenne pepper to you liking.

This makes approximately a cup and a 1/2 of pate - enough to make a good deal of sushi, plus have left overs to stuff into a collard wrap or put on a salad.

What you'll need for your rolls:

nori pate (above recipe)
nori sheets
any additional veggies you want inside, I used avocado and a mixture of sprouts (clover, radish, sunflower, broccoli, peas, lentils: which is sold as "sprout salad by sun grown")
Shallow bowl of water and Sharp knife

Let's Get Rolling!

Place your nori sheet out in front of you on a clean surface. Place a thin row of sprouts, a thin row of pate, and a few slices of avocado on your nori at the end closest to you. Wet your hands with your water bowl. Start to roll the end closest to you away from you. Continue to wet hands and tighten the roll up as you go. Seal the end additionally with water. Let dry a moment. Wet your knife so that the blade has water on it. Carefully slice your nori roll holding the knife at an angle. Should take two cuts - point knife down and slice, pull knife back with handle down and slice. Continue to wet knife with each slice.

Once completed, serve on your favorite asian inspired dish with nama shoyu (or soy sauce).