Collard Sushi With Roasted Winter Vegetables

Directions

1. For the Sushi:
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place rack in the middle.
3. Clean and wash sweet potato, beets, and red pepper. Dry them off and place on a sided roasting pan sprayed with a little cooking spray. Sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt and black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Roast for 50 minutes or until you can easily put a knife through them.
4. While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the brown rice. Place the rice and water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to low, cover and simmer rice for 50 minutes or until all water is absorbed.
5. While rice is cooking and veggies are roasting, prepare curried chickpea spread. See instructions below.
6. When roasting veggies are cooked through, remove from the oven and let cool. Remove the fibrous stem from the kale leaves (hold stem with one hand, pull leaves off with the other) and place them in the still hot oven to crisp up. These will burn very quickly! So keep a close eye. Remove and set aside.
7. Prep and cut all the veggies.
8. Prepare collards by cutting out the fibrous stem. Place a wide skillet or wok filled with a few inches of salted water on high heat. (Add two optional lemon wedges and a 1” chunk of fresh cut ginger to the water to add a bit of flavor to collard greens) Once the water boils, lower to medium heat and place in the collard leaves. Cook for about three minutes. (the collard will turn a dark shade of green and get a bit softer, but don't cook so long that it gets thin and wilty. You still want a strong, but pliable, sushi wrap) Remove leaf to a bowl of ice water and dip it in to stop the leaf from cooking. When rice is done cooking, remove from heat and fluff with a fork and drizzle a sprinkling of mirin rice seasoning and a dash of brown rice vinegar and add salt to taste (this is an optional step). Keep stirring and allowing steam to release. Adjust seasoning to taste.

1. Curried Chickpea Spread and Indian Spice Dipping Sauce
2. For the Chickpea Spread: In a food processor, combine chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon each of curry powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt and process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and set aside for later use. Can be stored in refrigerator if making in advance.
3. For the Indian Spice Dipping Sauce: Combine yogurt, apple cider vinegar, juice of half a lemon, honey, 1/2 teaspoon each of Cumin and coriander, 1/4 teaspoon each of turmeric, powdered ginger, and cayenne pepper.
4. Assembling: Cut the collard green into two equal parts. Lay out flat on a cutting board and pat it dry with a paper towel. Spread a very thin layer of the curried chickpea spread from one end to about three quarters of the way across the leaf. Take a healthy tablespoon or two of the rice and spread it over the layer of chickpea spread creating the base for your sushi roll. Layer the veggies in any way you want about 2 inches from the end of the collard green that has the rice mixture on it. Make them a tidy little pile of veggies, but let a few hang off the sides. I started with 2 slices of the red pepper, then one slice of the sweet potato, then a teaspoon of the beet mixture, topped with carrots, scallions and a small piece of the roasted kale leaf. Sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt and pepper. With two hands, fold the end of the leaf over the little pile of veggies, hugging it tightly to the veggie pile. Continue on until you roll right to the end that is just green. Cut into two or three pieces and serve with Indian Spice Dipping sauce. Happy Eating!