Sushi Salad Bowl with Carrot-Ginger Dressing for One

This refreshing bowl of veggies will fill you up. I called it a sushi salad because it looks like the messes I used to make when I was trying to make sushi (before I got my handy cheater tool), and the poor bedraggled sushi maki ended up tossed unceremoniously into a bowl. It still tasted good; it just wasn’t pretty. But this bowl IS pretty, and topped with a tangy carrot dressing, you’ll forget that you’re not eating sushi.

For the Dressing:

1 carrot, chopped into ½-inch pieces

1 teaspoon minced ginger

2 TBLSP vinegar (rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar)

2 TBLSP water

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 teaspoons sesame oil (peanut oil works nicely too, or it can be olive oil)

1 small clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon brown rice syrup (or maple syrup)

¾ teaspoon soy sauce

For the Sushi Bowl:

1 cup cooked brown rice

¼ sweet potato, cubed

1/8 kobucha squash, cubed

1 large broccoli floret, cut up into bite-sized pieces

12 (or so) snap peas, whole

1 big fist-full of spinach, cleaned and trimmed

¼ can cooked chickpeas (or other bean), rinsed thoroughly and drained

1 small cucumber (pickle-sized), seeded and diced

¼ avocado, sliced thinly

¼ Fuji apple, sliced thinly (or the apple of your choice)

1 TBLSP fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped

Gomasio for garnish

Make the Dressing:

1. Place all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and whirl until it’s all smooth and silky.
2. If you want the dressing even smoother, steam the carrots for 5-6 minutes until they’re easily pierced with a fork. Then add them to the blender with the other ingredients.
3. If you like your dressing thinner, add more water or vinegar, depending on your tartness quotient.

Make the Sushi Bowl:

1. In a small pot, cover the sweet potatoes and squash with water and boil for 6-7 minutes, until nearly done. Toss the broccoli in there too, if you like, or you could do it with the snap peas and spinach, although it will be difficult to separate out, if you want to arrange it on your plate in a pretty pattern.
2. In another small pot (or after the orange veggies finish), steam the snap peas and the spinach for about 3 minutes. Don’t stir it! You want the spinach on the top for the next step.
3. Squeeze the spinach gently to remove as much water as you can.

Assemble the Sushi Bowl:

1. Put the rice into the bottom of your serving bowl and top it with everything else. I like to alternate colors. But you don’t have to arrange it. You could just toss it in there. It will taste just as good.  
2. Pour the dressing over the top, and garnish with gomasio and nori strips.

Variations:

• Obviously, you can put in the vegetables that please you, but consider putting other fruit in there (tangerines are nice, as are pears, cherries, dried cranberries, and peaches), using sweetened sushi rice (shorter grain and tossed with rice vinegar and sugar), or using faux meats.