SUSHI WITHOUT THE SEAWEED-- AND WHOLE GRAIN, TOO!

My husband detests seaweed (or sea vegetables, the modern term). This puts a damper on my love of sushi. But my solution is the recipe below, a traditional Japanese sushi which contains no seaweed-- instead, the sushi mixture is stuffed into "puffs" of fried tofu which have been simmered in a flavorful broth. It's absolutely delicious, beautiful, and easy to make.

I didn't make it for a long time, because I thought the fried tofu would be too full of fat. But the fried tofu pockets (agé) are less calorific and fat-laden than I thought-- 1 package of 8 pockets (which makes 16 pieces) weighs 80 g, and 100 g of fried tofu contains only 271 calories!





So, I was in business again, and began playing with the recipe to make it more healthful than the traditional white rice variety. I worried about that because I've had some pretty nasty brown rice sushi at potlucks, etc.. The rice mixture that we settled on is made from short grain brown rice with some millet or quinoa added. This gives you variety and extra nutrients, but the texture of the rice predominates, which is a good thing. (For my taste, I find the millet or quinoa grains too small to use alone in sushi.) This whole grain sushi mix does not taste heavy or starchy, as I had feared.


BRYANNA'S MULTI-WHOLE--GRAIN INARI SUSHI (SUSHI GRAINS IN FRIED TOFU POCKETS) makes 16 pockets

This makes great picnic food. It should not be refrigerated, since this makes the rice hard, so plan to eat it up in one day (not difficult!).

NOTE: If you can only find the already simmered and flavored tofu pockets, omit the steps of pouring boiling water over them and simmering in the flavoring broth.
1 package (80 g-- 8 pockets) of agé --Japanese fried tofu rectangles

FLAVORING BROTH
1 c. vegetarian broth (a low-salt variety)
2 T. soy sauce or tamari
2 T. vegan sugar
2 T. dry sherry or mirin (Japanese rice wine) (or use juice)

FILLING:
3/4 c. Japanese short grain brown rice and 1/4 c. toasted millet
cooked together 40-45 minutes in 1 and 1/2 c. water (you can use a pressure cooker, if you prefer, but cook the full 40 minutes)
OR
1/2 cup short grain brown rice cooked in 2/3 cup water for 45 minutes
PLUS 1/2 cup quinoa cooked separately in 1 cup water for 15 minutes (then let the quinoa stand, covered, off the heat 10 minutes)
(To cook the grains, bring the water and grain to a boil in a heavy pot with a tight lid, turn down to low and cook, covered tightly, for the time indicated.)

2 T. rice or cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 T. vegan sugar
3/8 tsp. salt
Optional: 1 T. dry sherry or mirin

1/2 c. thawed frozen baby peas
1 medium carrot, finely grated
Optional: some toasted sesame seeds to taste
Optional: add some chopped marinated or baked tofu, or vegetarian "chicken", "ham" or "shrimp"

To prepare the tofu pockets: Cut each piece of tofu in half. Pour boiling water over them, then drain and squeeze them carefully to remove the oil.

In a medium pot, bring the flavoring broth to a boil, add the tofu pockets and reduce the heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, turning now and then. Drain and cool until you can handle them. Gently squeeze out excess liquid. Carefully separate one “wall” of each pocket from the other to make “pouches”.

Dump the hot cooked rice (make sure it is tender) and millet or quinoa into a large shallow baking dish. Mix the sugar and salt with the vinegar and wine until it is dissolved. Pour this over the hot rice. Turn the rice mixture with a spatula (wooden, preferably), using an over-and-under-motion, until the mixture is cool. (Traditionally, you fan the rice while you mix.)

Add the peas and carrots and any optionals. Stuff the pockets carefully and evenly (there should be just enough filling for 16 pockets). Serve at room temperature. Rice gets hard when refrigerates, which spoils the texture of the dish.




Enjoy!