Quinoa cone sushi

This quick recipe is great for groups of snacking hipsters and can be customized for most dietary restrictions.

Homemade, hand-rolled sushi is delicious and nutritious. However, making traditional sushi rice is a serious labor of love. Skip all the hard work and jump straight to the tasty results by switching out short-grain rice for quinoa. Experiment with different ingredients every time you make it; the possible flavor combinations are endless.

When serving at parties, place each ingredient separately in a small bowl so that guests can pick and choose what they want inside their roll. Whenever cooking with quinoa, always rinse it thoroughly using a fine-mesh strainer to remove loose residue that could make your dish bitter.

The quinoa should be just cool enough to handle, but do not place it in the fridge before serving, or it will fall apart and make a mess while you’re wrapping.

Sushi nori can be found in the Asian section of most major grocery stores. The lightly salted, roasted variety is prime for this recipe. You can avoid having to cut up the sheets yourself by grabbing a few packages of Trader Joe’s roasted seaweed snack, which comes in pre-cut squares perfect for hand rolls. Be sure to slice whatever ingredients you choose into long thin strips that can be easily rolled up.

Ingredients

1 cup white quinoa
1 3/4 cup water
1 package nori sheets (0.9 oz)
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced into 2-inch strips
1/3 cup pickled ginger slices, julienned
1/2 lb cooked imitation crab (pollock)
1/2 cup enoki mushrooms
1/2 cup carrots, julienned
1/2 cup red bell pepper, julienned
3 stalks green onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp wasabi (optional)
1/2 cup soy sauce (for dipping)

Instructions

Rinse quinoa in mesh strainer and set aside. Bring water to boil and stir in quinoa, reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 15 minutes.

Once quinoa has absorbed all water, remove from heat, remove lid and cover with a clean dishtowel for five minutes. Cut nori with kitchen scissors into palm-sized squares. Spoon approximately two tablespoons of warm quinoa into the center of the nori and fill with your ingredients of choice.

Lightly moisten one edge with water and roll nori close around the ingredients in a cone shape. Eat immediately!