Sushi Roll Salad 13-Jun-2012

I have not made this, but it does sound so intriguing.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups long grain rice
• ¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons oil (I used grapeseed)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped pickled ginger
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (1 or 2 green onions)
• ½ cup finely shredded carrot
• 1 large seedless cucumber (about 1 pound), quartered lengthwise, cored, and sliced
• 2 sheets roasted nori
• 1 avocado
• Juice from a couple of wedges of a lime
• (Optional) 8 ounces cooked shrimp (Oregon shrimp meat, if you’re on the West Coast)

Dressing

• 3 teaspoons wasabi (Japanese green horseradish) powder
• 1 tablespoon hot water
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 teaspoons ginger juice (I used the juice from the jar of pickled ginger.)

Directions

1. Wash the rice in several rinses of cold water to remove some of the starch. The water will be quite cloudy at first and become clearer as you continue to rinse it.

2. Cook the rice using your favorite method. I used my rice cooker with 1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons water.

3. While the rice is cooking, put the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook just until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat.

4. Toast the sesame seeds in a small pan, stirring often, until they are golden brown. Remove the seeds from the pan and set aside.

5. When the rice is done, put it in a large bowl and allow it to cool.

6. Gently stir, using kind of a folding motion so you don’t break up the rice too much, the sesame seeds, oil, ginger, green onions, carrot, and cucumber into the salad.

(The salad can be covered and refrigerated at this point for up to a day. Bring to room temperature before continuing with the recipe.)

1. Make the dressing. Stir all of the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl until well-combined.

2. Cut the nori into thin strips and then cut the strips into small pieces, about 1%frac12; to 2 inches long. Kitchen scissors probably work best for this.

3. Stir 2/3 of the nori strips into the salad.

4. Cut the avocado into small cubes and gently toss them with the lime juice. (This helps to keep the avocado from turning brown.)

5. Gently toss the avocado, shrimp, and the dressing into the salad.

6. Put the salad in a serving bowl and garnish with the remaining nori strips. Serve with extra wasabi and pickled ginger, if desired.