Invite mermaid energy into your kitchen with this technicolor nori wrap. Inspired by the beloved hand-roll restaurant in Los Angeles, KazuNori, food alchemist and avid plant home cook, Sasha Pagni, shared this delicious and low-maintenance nori roll recipe. It highlights sea veggies, which are a nutritional force. Water-rich, oceanic plants are some of the best, most lush sources of trace minerals which support the thyroid, detox pathways, and skin barrier. Algae and seaweeds also help to rebuild blood and provide the body with sustained energy.
Beauty secrets: There's a reason why we keep a vial of Beauty Water Drops in our vanity, atop our nightstands (in several purses, gym bags, friend's houses, etc.); minerals are sorely lacking from the modern person's diet yet are critical to maintaining a youthful, buoyant glow. Minerals support the electrical charge between cells, improve intracellular communication, remove toxic and metabolic waste from the body, and boost the mitochondria by getting water inside the cell. These ionic electrolytes help turn back the biological clock—and sea vegetables offer micronutrients and minerals in spades. Just ask nurse and esthetician, Shelly Marshall of BeautyShamans, who incorporates healing properties of the sea in her beauty line: "Seawater has all the minerals and trace elements needed to sustain and build 'life.' In fact, it is so vital that nature apparently saw fit to carry the design forward in the form of amniotic fluid and blood plasma in humans," Shelly says. "Our blood plasma is nearly identical to seawater in nutrient and mineral composition." Translation—this satiating lunch will be like bathing your cells in an elixir of youth.
Ingredients:
- Rice:
- 1 cup rice of choice (suggested: short or medium white rice)
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ organic cucumber, cut into matchsticks
- 1 organic carrot, cut into matchsticks
- ½ medium radish, cut into matchsticks
- ½ sea greens* (suggested: wakame, Hijiki, nori, agar agar, blue and red seaweed, seastring, kelp)
- 1 avocado, sliced or cubed
- 3-4 nori sheets (optional: can also use a large leaf such as rainbow chard)
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
- Optional: squeeze of lemon
*use salt-preserved seaweed like the blend from Sea Tangle Noodle; or find dried sea vegetables and rehydrate them, specifically kelp noodles; or purchase prepared seaweed salad often available in the prepared foods/cold bar section of the grocery store
Directions:
- Rinse rice under water until water runs clear and then place into a small pot with 1.5 cups of water.
- Place over heat and quickly bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, cover the pan with the lid, reduce the heat to low and simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until the water is absorbed.
- While the rice is cooking, chop cucumbers, carrots, radishes, slice avocado and set to the side.
- After 20 minutes, remove the pan from heat, lid intact, and allow the rice to rest undisturbed for 10 minutes.
- While the rice is resting, combine rice vinegar, coconut sugar, and salt in a pan over low heat until dissolved.
- Remove the lid from the rice and pour vinegar-sugar solution evenly over the rice and fold in. Replace the lid and allow rice to rest for another 10 minutes and then gently fluff with a fork.
- Assemble the nori wrap: Lay down nori sheet with the rough side up, lay a few spoonfuls of rice and gently spread in a vertical line in the middle of the nori sheet. To keep the rice from sticking, dip the tips of your fingers into water and spread the rice down the middle using your fingertips to flatten the rice.
- Layer cucumber, radish, carrot, avocado, and sea veggies on top of the rice, adding only a few tablespoons to ensure it can be rolled or wrapped.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds, squeeze lemon over the filling, and roll. Enjoy.
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