Veggie Sushi: That's How I Roll.

Still trying bravely to stick to our New Year's resolutions over here chez Orange & Salt, we rolled up these bad boys the other day for a quick, healthy lunch. While traditional sushi and sashimi assembly is an art form requiring patiene and most likely many years of training, almost nothing could be easier than 'sushi' based on the humble California roll model (oh my gosh, 'roll model'?? You see what I did there?? Ha).

Assemble the following:

- sheets of nori (pressed seaweed)...if you're not lucky enough to find this at your usual grocery store, although they're increasingly stocking things like this, get thee to your local Asian market!

- Japanese short-grain sushi rice

- rice wine vinegar

- ingredients for 'fillings': we used carrot, scallion, avocado, cucumber and cream cheese, but it goes without saying that you can use whatever you want!

Prepare sushi rice according to instructions on bag, douse with rice wine vinegar (I usually sprinkle on a pinch of sugar and one of salt at this stage, too). Let cool to room temperature. Use fridge or freezer, if you're impatient (we are always impatient).

Break all your filling ingredients down into small slivers. In our case, I grated the carrot with a cheese grater and slivered everything else finely with a knife. Lay out a sheet of nori, spread sticky rice in a thin layer all over it (hint: it helps to keep wetting your fingertips at this stage in order to push the rice into place, otherwise it really will stick to everything that touches it). Arrange fillings in a horizontal band across the sheet of nori and rice. Roll tightly, slice, and enjoy with plenty of wasabi and soy sauce!