Quinoa Spring Sushi

Yes, that's right - another spring recipe. Yesterday, July 4th (Happy Independence Day to my home country!), was the first full day of sun in a long while. Very appropriate weather for this refreshing, light, yet filling recipe. I found this recipe on mynewroots - one of the cooking blogs I follow for all its fresh, seasonal, healthy cooking - and the idea of replacing rice in sushi with quinoa (hooray protein for vegetarians) seemed too good to pass up.

 I modified just a bit since I wasn't quite keen to do everything by scratch for once.

Quinoa Spring Sushi   Makes enough for 4 rolls (8 pieces from each roll)

Sushi Quinoa:
1 c. quinoa
2 c. chickpea stock (stock from cooking chickpeas - you could also use a low sodium veggie broth or water even)
3 Tbs. rice vinegar


Spring Vegetables:
Radishes (cut in half and thinly sliced)
Baby lettuce (small pieces)
Cucumber (long skinny strips)
Avocado (thin slices)
Carrots (long skinny strips)


Fried Egg Omelet:
2-3 eggs, scrambled with a dash (small or hearty) of red chili flakes.

Additional Items:
Nori
Pickled Ginger
Wasabi
Soy sauce for dipping

1. Bring the quinoa and stock to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook covered fro 15-20 minutes. When fully cooked, remove from heat, stir rice vinegar through, fluff with fork, and let cool uncovered for 5-10minutes. (Otherwise you'll burn your hands and make your nori wrappers crinkle like mad).
2. While the quinoa cooks, slice up all your veggies (except for maybe the avocado if you don't want it to go brown) and fry the eggs. To fry the scrambled eggs, heat a skillet over medium heat. Pour in a bit of sesame oil, then pour scrambled eggs into the pan. Tilt pan to coat eggs evenly over entire skillet. Let cook for 1-2 minutes until the bottom is cooked through. Carefully flip the entire egg pancake over and finish cooking. Remove from pan and let cool briefly before slicing into long strips.
3. Place a sheet of nori on a sushi rolling mat (or a large plate) and press an evenly thin layer of quinoa across the nori, leaving one inch of nori clear of quinoa on the side farthest from you. Dipping your hands in cold water can help avoid the quinoa sticking to your hands. Then layer your fillings about 1" from the edge closest to you, along the roll. (Don't overfill!) Once you have your fillings in place, carefully roll up the sushi towards the edge without quinoa. Use water blotted along the unfilled nori edge to help seal the sushi roll. Press tightly along the roll, and then using a clean knife, slice into 8 pieces.
4. Serve with soy sauce, pickled ginger, wasabi etc.