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Friday, March 28, 2014

Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice

Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice

Barbecued eel and avocado rolled up in colorful carrot rice for an amazing sushi roll

Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice | Farm Fresh Feasts


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Sometimes you just have to scratch your head and ask yourself 'now why didn't I think of that?'.  I was uploading photos to the food porn photo sharing site Fridgg when I saw colorful carrot rice, and I mentally smacked my forehead and wondered why I'd never done that while making sushi.
After all, I put finely shredded carrots in my Maple Teriyaki Salmon sushi, though I layered them with apples before rolling up.  And I've tossed cooked rice with finely shredded carrot while making chirashi sushi, seen on the blog in my Spam Musubi Chirashi Sushi.  So it's not a giant stretch to think up tossing the carrot with the rice, then using the result in my sushi rolls.


Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice | Farm Fresh Feasts


I've talked about some of the ways I put up our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share vegetables during the growing season, to feed my family during the winter (talking about this is kinda the mission of this blog).  I roast and freeze my garlic crop.  I turn the tomatillos (and freshly roasted Hatch chiles from the grocery store down the road) into salsa verde.  I keep the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve in a cold corner of my breakfast nook.  Carrots are a bit different.  I shred them using the fine shred disc on my food processor then freeze them in zip top bags.  I can take out just what I need and it thaws rapidly.  If you don't have a food processor with a fine shred disc--I'm thinking box grater?
What exactly do those spiky holes on the 4 sided box grater do, anyway?  I've only used the large shred hole side and the slicer side.  Those spiky hole things just snag my knuckles (or get gunked up with cheese when the kids are first learning to grate cheese) and are a pain to clean.  If you know, I'd love to hear it in the comments.  It's been a mystery to me for a while.

Next thing on my mind:  unagi.  Unagi, or barbecued eel, is one of my favorite items on the sushi menu.  When we lived in Hawaii, my daughter and I would splurge on a sushi lunch at the Aloha Sushi nearby.  I'd get a couple of unagi hand rolls--the combination of warm eel and warm sushi rice in a freshly-made hand roll is irresistible to me.  Getting cold, pre made unagi in the grocery store just doesn't cut it, and since I can eat my age in pieces of sushi it makes sense to make it at home.  For this reason I pick up packages of unagi from the freezer section of the asian market (you can see it below).  They are ready when I've got the rest of the ingredients on hand.



Barbecued eel and avocado rolled up in colorful carrot rice for an amazing sushi roll you can make at home!


My first sushi post details a lot of the steps involved in making sushi, complete with step-by-step photos.  I'm not trying to rack up additional page views when I refer you to it--I'm trying to keep this post as concise as possible while showing off the neat photos I took (because I am absurdly pleased with them).  You can check out my How to Make Sushi at Home post here.


For more recipes using avocado, please see my Avocado Recipes Collection. For more recipes using carrots, please see my Carrot Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?


Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice | Farm Fresh Feasts
Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice | Farm Fresh Feasts
Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice | Farm Fresh Feasts

Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice (makes enough for 4-6 fat rolls)

Note:  you'll have enough rice and avocado to make 6 rolls, and depending on how large you slice the unagi will depend on how many unagi rolls you make.  My spouse and daughter are not fans of unagi, so I make a large pot of rice and use some of it with salmon, or tamago, for their rolls.

Ingredients


  • 3 cups (uncooked) calrose white medium grain rice, prepared according to package directions
  • 2 cups finely shredded carrot
  • 2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
  • 1 avocado, smashed with 1 teaspoon mayonnaise and ½ teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 package unagi, warmed according to package directions ( I get mine in Asian markets, frozen)
  • 4 to 6 sheets nori
  • toasted sesame ginger seasoning (I wrote about my discovery here)

Instructions


  1. In a large bowl, toss the cooked rice with the shredded carrot until it is evenly mixed.  
  2. Sprinkle the seasoned rice vinegar over top, and fold/flip with a rice paddle to combine.  There's probably a youtube video about how to incorporate seasoned rice vinegar into cooked rice without squishing the rice.  Have a bowl of water handy to rinse your hands because they will get sticky.
  3. See the photo below for my sushi making set up. Set everything up first.
  4. Place a sheet of nori on a sushi rolling mat with the long edge towards your belly and the edge of the counter/table (the jury is still out if I prefer the plastic to the bamboo--they both have advantages). 
  5. Spread an even layer of carrot rice over the nori (I start with a damp handful, then add small amounts more as necessary to fill in), then cover with a piece of plastic wrap and flip over so that you've got the bare side of nori facing up as shown.  
  6. Spread a 2 inch strip of avocado on the lower third of the nori, then top with a piece of unagi. 
  7. Grasp the edge of the mat closest to you and roll tightly away from you, stopping to lift the plastic wrap and rolling mat out of the way before they get all rolled up.  
  8. Give the roll a squeeze, poke in the stuff that oozes out the sides, then give it another squeeze.  
  9. Sprinkle toasted sesame ginger seasoning on the roll, and roll it around a bit to get the seasoning not the sides. 
  10. Set that roll aside and continue making sushi rolls until you've run out of something (usually unagi, for me).  
  11. Slice each roll in half, wiping off the knife between slices as it gets very sticky, and then in half again, and then in half again for a total of 8 pieces.  
  12. If you have extra rolls that you know you won't eat that day, wrap them in plastic wrap and they'll keep in the fridge for another day or two.

Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice | Farm Fresh Feasts

20 comments:

  1. I like the detailed picture at the end with the mysterious arrow to the dogs who are hanging out off camera.
    I had rice earlier this week at a Lebanese restaurant with pine nuts and almond slivers mixed right in. It was delicious and your mixture of rice and shredded carrots reminds me of it. Not sure why, other than they both look and sound good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meghan,
      Thank you for noticing the dogs--I thought in the interests of full disclosure I should add that to the mis en place photo.
      My favorite (and only) Lebanese butcher in Falls Church had delicious rice served as a side with their shawarma--rice with almonds, pine nuts--and ground beef. Liz who blogs at The Lemon Bowl has a version of it I need to try. Something about the flavor just lends itself to heaping helpings.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  2. Thanks for sharing...never thought of mixing the carrots into the sushi rice :p I love sushi and your photos makes me drool :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elin,
      See, mixing the carrots into the rice seems like such an obvious thin I'm glad I'm not the only one to have not thought of it. That is, until I saw it on Fridgg and figured I'd try it ;)
      Thanks--my photos make me drool, too!

      Delete
  3. I saw you on the Chicken Chick blog hop and this looks amazing. My husband loves sushi and yours looks better than what you get in a restaurant. thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stephanie,
      Thank you for your sweet words! I sat back and looked at these photos when I first pulled them off the camera and was blown away that I took them. Like I look at my kids in awe sometimes and think "I made that".
      Once you have a couple of tools on hand, sushi is easy to make at home.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  4. Great looking sushi and I bet it is delicious.

    Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathy,
      I'm a big fan of unagi and avocado, so I found this sushi to be delicious. My son agreed (we share similar tastes). My spouse and daughter are not unagi fans (all the more for us) so they ate salmon.
      Thanks for hosting!

      Delete
    2. Where do you get unagi? I enjoy it, but have never seen it in stores. I adore smoked salmon, so I could substitute, but I'd like to try this recipe with the unagi.

      Delete
    3. Kathy,
      I get it in Asian grocery stores, in the freezer section. I included the entire package in the photo above so you get an idea of what to look for.
      Back when we lived in Hawaii, and also when we lived in the Washington DC area, I had a variety of Asian grocery stores to shop at, and each one had unagi in the freezer section (and gyro meat, go figure). Now that I live in Ohio I've had to get creative. My son practices sled hockey a couple of minutes away from one of the Cincinnati Asian Market stores, so I try to do all my Asian grocery shopping between October and March--though I'll need to make a 'stock up' run midway through the summer.
      Since it comes frozen it stores for a while.
      Then you just heat it and it's ready to go!

      Delete
  5. Your sushi rolls look amazing!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maria,
      Thank you so much! My mom handed down the tray just last month, and I grabbed it thinking it might look good with the sushi. Bingo! I had good lighting, a patient family who waited for a late lunch while mom took her time making a fancy meal.

      Delete
  6. Although I'm not a seafood person, these are VERY pretty! I stick with the the veggie rolls. I'll have to remember this the next time our family gets together for Japanese night. Everyone once in a while, we'll go all out and make the salad, rice, miso soup, tempura, sushi, and sukiyaki ... with lots of plum wine and/or sake! I've even been known to make mochi for dessert once or twice. ;) [#TastyTuesdays]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chris,
      Oh, yum--I ought to go all out--and at least make miso soup, but I usually make sushi rolls and call it good. Mochi--you are a true artist!
      Thanks!

      Delete
  7. OMG, do they look GREAT or what?! I love the addition of carrots in the rice. You are so creative! I'm not waiting for my homegrown carrots for these. Definitely making them as soon as I get more sushi rice. Thanks for bringing these to Fiesta Friday! XOXO, Angie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Angie,
      I'm so pleased with the photos of this recipe that I blew one up and hung it alongside those of the members of a photography club on base. Our theme is Spring, and these looked terrific alongside the lovely photos of tulips and baseball.
      Thanks for hosting Fiesta Friday!

      Delete
  8. Congratulations!! Your recipe has been featured at Tasty Tuesdays 56 on my blog, Lori’s Culinary Creations. Hop on over and grab a feature button and link up your latest culinary creations. Congrats again.
    Link- http://bit.ly/1hXoLX7
    Lori

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lori,
      Thanks for featuring me! It's much appreciated--especially when I feel so pleased with how the recipe and photos turned out.

      Delete
  9. Those look lovely, i couldn't make but i would def buy to eat. I love theway you have done your pictures too with the wording, great fun

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Justine,
      You COULD make this--it's really not hard if you have the proper tools (a sushi rolling mat, mainly, but a sharp knife also helps).
      Thanks for your sweet comments!

      Delete