Recipes
Omid Jaffari’s Wild or Brown Rice Sushi with Avocado, Eggplant & Red Pepper
This exquisite Mediterranean sushi dish is very similar to "real" sushi in the way that it's presented, yet it has entirely different and unique flavors. It is a 100% vegan dish, made with garden fresh vegetables such as Lebanese eggplants, red peppers and avocado...plus an unusual twist to really add that fishy flavour: the ancient superfood AFA Blue Green Algae. You can use brown rice or wild rice; to make sushi you're better off using brown rice, but if you want to serve it in a bowl, then I recommend the wild rice...
For the wild or brown rice
- 2 cups wild rice or brown rice
- 3 cups water
- ¼ cup black sesame seeds
For the rice
1. Wash the wild rice. You can soak it overnight...just make sure that you change the water once or twice.
2. Put the rice, water and a pinch of sea salt in your rice cooker and let it cook. Though all rice cookers are the same, you know your own one better than anyone else: cook your rice until fluffy and well cooked, but not over cooked and mushy.
For the sushi
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
- 1 eggplant, peeled, sliced lengthwise & grilled
- 1 red pepper, cut into slices & grilled
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup Black Botija Olives pitted, diced
- ¼ diakon, peeled & grated
- 2 tsp AFA Blue Green Algae powder
- ½ tsp Sea Salt
For the Vegetables
1. Toss all the vegetable ingredients (except the avocado and olives) in a bowl. Adjust the taste with sea salt.
2. Grill the vegetables on a low heat for about five minutes, making sure to turn them every minute or two until they develop a nice even golden colour.
Assemble
1. Fluff up the cooked rice with a fork while it's still hot. Then take one heaped tablespoon of rice into your hand and make a fist to shape it into an oval shape. Now, gently squeeze your fist so that the cooked rice sticks together and holds its shape. Make all the rice balls like this and set aside.
2. Take four long plates. Mount the sushi artistically like the above image, with the morsels of rice placed in a row on each plate. On each morsel of rice, place your grilled pieces of eggplant, red pepper and avocados.
3. Garnish your rice and vegetables with grated diakon, AFA Blue Green Algae powder and Black Botija Olives. Serve immediately!
