Vegetable Rolls

vegetable roll
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I have been watching a fascinating show online; Aventura Culinaria hosted by Gaston Acurio, which chronicles the culinary landscape of Peru. It can be found on youtube. In one of the shows he covers the Japanese influence on Peruvian cuisine and the way the sushi roll or maki roll has glided away from the rigid original interpretations to include whatever fresh ingredients where on hand.

In that spirit, I tried my hand (somewhat sloppily) to make some vegetable rolls. I started up the rice cooker, all I had was long grain rice so I used that, 4 parts rinsed rice, 5 parts water. (ideally sushi rice, a piece of kombu kelp added to the cooker).

I had some nice asparagus that a neighbour had brought us.



Also some baby carrots



I blanched the asparagus and carrot in a pot of boiling salt water for 3 minutes then shocked it in cold water... oh by the way I had some corn.





I made a soy glaze with 1/3 of a cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup water, 1/4 cup honey, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, the juice of half a lime and 3 tsp of sugar. I reduced it down by more than half (bubbles large).

Once the rice was done, I finished it with 1/3 cup of white rice vinegar with a tablespoon of sugar dissolved in it and a pinch of salt.
I spread it on plastic wrap (ideally a bamboo sushi mat)



I layered the asparagus and carrot and painted it with the glaze (could have used more glaze)



I then rolled it using the plastic wrap, it was a bit sloppy (I was) but the overall stayed together.



I served it with turkey breast and corn



It was very good if not as pretty as I hoped. The sushi rice tasted right to me and the vegetables were crisp and tasty. Will work on the technique some more.