Quinoa Vegetable Rolls

The recipe I am going to share with you today is like most of my recipes totally adjustable to one's taste. Quinoa vegetable rolls are a gorgeous light still filling meal for detox time and you can choose any of your favourite veggies and even substitute quinoa with rice (brown, of course) and make the rolls in a more traditional way. My choice of vegetables is the simpliest - these can be found in anyone's fridge in any season. Feel free to adjust and please yourself with a beautiful lunch!

Quinoa Vegetable Rolls

 

Ingredients (serves 2):

For marinade:

4 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons honey or brown sugar

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

a slice of raw beet (optional)

For rolls:

3/4 cups dried quinoa

1 carrot

1 beet

1 celery stalk

1 cucumber

10 cm length piece of leeks

a handful of spinach

7-10 cm length piece of ginger root

3 nori sheets
sea salt

Wasabi soy sauce for serving

Directions:

First step is to prepare the marinade.Whisk together white wine vinegar, water, honey or brown sugar and sea salt, devide the mixture into 2 halves and set one aside for dressing our quinoa.

Thinly slice the ginger root, mix it with a bit of sea salt and set aside in a colander for 5-10 minutes to let the juice out. After that rinse the ginger thoroughly and squeeze the rest of the liquid out of it. Now put the pieces into the marinade and place them in the fridge until everything else is ready. You can optionally add a piece of raw beet to the marinade and it will color the ginger pink. I like to make half of the ginger colored pink and leave the other half naturally yellow, it brightens up the whole dish even more!

Cook quinoa in unsalted water and when done dress it with the rest of the marinade. Set aside to cool.

Cut your veggies really thinly lengthwise.

When all the ingredients are prepared take a sushi mat, place it on the table with the slats lying horizontally and place a nori sheet on it with its shiny side down. Put a thin layer of quinoa over the side of the nori sheet closest to you. Put the veggies over quinoa and start to roll picking up the edge of the sushi mat closest to you, tucking it up and pulling it carefully to form a beautiful roll.

Repeat the same with the rest of quinoa and nori sheets, you may have some veggies left depending on how tightly you "pack" your rolls.

Using a really sharp knife cut small rolls and place them on a plate or a serving board. Remember to clean the knife after you cut every other piece of roll - it will make the cutting easier and the rolls neater.

Serve with pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi and enjoy!