This recipe appears in Robin Asbell’s article “Seaweed, Sushi and You” in the March/April ’08 edition of the Mix. Find more of local chef Robin Asbell’s recipes in her book: The New Whole Grains Cookbook, available at Linden Hills Natural Home. Robin suggests that you serve these right away while the nori and dulse are still crackling. You can find most of the ingredients on aisle 3.

1 cup organic sweet brown rice or short grain brown rice, soaked overnight.
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
¼ piece kombu (optional)
1 ½ teaspoons umeboshi vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
6 sheets nori
12 thin sticks carrots 3 inches long
12 tablespoons dulse
12 sprigs watercress
Wasabi, shoyu, pickled ginger

Soak the rice overnight and drain, then put in a 1 quart pot and add 1 ½ cups water, salt and kombu if using. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low. Cover tightly. Cook for 30 minutes.

When the rice is tender, scrape out onto a plate and let cool, covered with a wet kitchen towel. Stir together the umeboshi vinegar and sugar and stir into the rice.

Using scissors, cut the nori sheets in half. On each half sheet, put about ¼ cup rice on the left half, forming a rough square. Place a carrot strip, angling from the inside lower corner to the upper left. Place dulse along that, and press. Roll up the bottom left corner over the fillings, forming a cone whose point is in the center of the sheet. Serve with wasabi, shoyu and pickled ginger.