One of our family’s favorite menu items is make-your-own-sushi. In fact, judging by the reactions from our friends, sushi night seems to be a favorite for everyone. Over the years it’s gotten a little fancier, but it doesn’t have to be. When we first began doing vegan sushi nights, I would make the cut rolls… And the ingredients varied but usually included some baked tofu, cucumber, and avocado. Sometimes we’d have romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, or veggie “ham.” In other words, it really varied.

As our girls got older, and developed their incisors, sushi night got easier because I stopped making cut rolls. After all, making a lot of hand rolls is a lot faster. Then came the switch to “make your own.” I would prep the ingredients, and everyone would make their own roll. This was wonderful because it resulted in two things… 1) our girls’ food prep skills increased and 2) it gave me more time to focus on the ingredients and prepare a variety of fillings.

Recently, that extra time has also been used to explore the world of nigiri sushi. I know, this pushes me back into the crazy world of frenetically creating labor intensive meals, but the results are worth it, and it keeps me fresh with new ideas. In truth, the actual prep work increases a little, but not as much as. You’d think. Making nigiri isn’t as time consuming as making hand rolls or cut rolls, and the topping for the nigiri can often be the same ingredients you use for the hand rolls… Maybe cut in a slightly different way, but it can still be the same stuff.

Before I go into the different things I did for our last sushi night, I want to talk about su for a little bit. Sushi su is the vinegar mixture that you use to season the rice and give it that distinctive flavor that adds a bit of subtle depth of flavor and aroma. There are a lot of sushi su recipes out there. I’m sure that most, if not all, sushi chefs have their own twist to the recipe. Sushi su is essential. The fillings in rolls are important too, but the flavor and texture of the rice can make or break sushi. For me, the big thing is balance of flavor. Here’s my recipe.

Note: I use all organic ingredients. Non-organic work fine as well. It’s all about what you prefer.

4 cups of sushi rice. I use some medium grain brown rice, but short grain works too. White is fine, but I like the protein of brown.
1/2 cup rice vinegar (do NOT use seasoned rice vinegar… That’s a totally different ingredient with salt and sugar already added)
3-4 tablespoons agave nectar
1 and 1/2 tablespoons kosher sea salt
1/4 cup or more of toasted sesame seeds

Cooking Instructions:
This recipe uses four cups of rice. Adjust accordingly if you need less or more.

Rinse rice well until the water is more clear. Add water as per markings on the rice cooker. Let the rice sit in the water for about 30 minutes. If you don’t have a rice cooker, then get one. Yes, you can cook rice in a pot. It’s not that hard, but the days of measuring with a finger, watching for the water to boil, covering the pot, lowering the heat, and simmering till done are over. It’s so 20th century! Rice is much more consistent when it’s cooked in the rice cooker. Very little chance of burned bottoms with mushy middles and crunchy tops.

Start the rice cooker and wait. When it’s done, don’t open the rice cooker. Let it sit steaming and off for then minutes. Note: while the rice is cooking, you have time to prep all other ingredients you’re filling the rolls with or toast sesame seeds or read a few chapters in a book.
For the sushi su, you will mix all the ingredients together until there are no crystals of salt. Note: if you have no agave, sugar will do, but you might actually have to increase the sugar… Agave can be sweeter.

It’s time to season your rice. Put the rice in a large, shallow bowl. The traditional wood sushi containers are great, but ceramic works fine too. The key is shallow and wide. If the sides are high, but the bowl has a smaller diameter, then the rice won’t breathe enough and it’s far more likely to get mushy.

Put the rice in the bowl and pour a little (like two tablespoons) of the su over the rice. You want to pour it on the rice paddle so that it splashes more evenly over the rice. When you get more experience, try bouncing or shaking the paddle vertically while pouring the su on it… The su will splash and spray a lot more, but that’s what you want.

Mixing technique varies, but you want to be a thorough and gentle at the same time. It’s like folding in an ingredient to a delicate batter… But be thorough!

When the su is fully absorbed, add more sushi su and repeat folding. When you’ve used a little over half of the amount of sushi su, begin tasting the rice to check for enough seasoning. This is a personal preference thing.

When you’ve added all the sushi su you want to, sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds onto the rice and fold in throughly.

The rice is ready for sushi now!

Note: a lot of people, me included, get someone to fan the rice as you are adding the sushi su. This does two things… It cools the rice a little bit and it makes it shiny.

Variations: if you like a fresh citrus flavor, substitute some (not all) of the rice vinegar with fresh lemon juice. If you like the sesame flavor to be more pronounced, add a 1/4 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil. Black sesame seeds are a fun, colorful treat as well.

This is a long long long time coming, but I’ve been meaning to post an image for my red cabbage salad recipe that I posted previously. So here it is… finally! Enjoy!

Red Cabbage Salad

Traveling and being vegan doesn’t always mix. Sure, you can launch your VegOut application or visit Happy Cow or go to the VegGuide for that city, but it’s still no guarantee that you’ll find wonderful food outside of big, diverse places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, or New York. We’re spoiled in LA because we’ve come to expect a variety of vegan, vegetarian, and veg-friendly food options. So when we went to Denver, Colorado recently for business (the International Society for Technology in Education 2010 conference), and saw a grand total of three vegetarian restaurants listed in VegOut (and no purely vegan ones), we were a little apprehensive to say the least. Fortunately, one of the restaurants was WaterCourse Foods, and that proved to be a gem. In fact, we tried two other restaurants in Denver (and liked City, O’ City the vegetarian pizza bar owned by WaterCourse), but always came back for more food at WaterCourse because of the variety and quality.

Within minutes of reaching the city, before even checking in to our hotel, we decided to visit WaterCourse. It was lunch time, and we’d mainly eaten snacks on the road. The first positive mark was the atmosphere. The servers were very friendly and polite, and there was a warm feeling everywhere. When we walked in, we saw a double display case full of bakery items… From fancy looking cakes and pies to cookies, muffins, and cinnamon rolls (just to name a few things). Naturally, we didn’t get overly excited and asked, “Which of these items are vegan?” When the hostess replied, “All of them,” we knew that this wasn’t just any old vegetarian restaurant.

After being seated, we began looking through the menu. First thing I noticed was that they served breakfast till 5:00 pm. Huge bonus there! I love breakfast and brunch items anytime I can get it. And pretty much anything can be made vegan by omitting the cheese. Sure, it would be nice if they would serve Daiya, but if the demand isn’t there yet, then I’m not going to fault them.

We started with the Seitan Buffalo Wings. You have the option of having it with buffalo, BBQ, or teriyaki sauce, so we chose the traditional buffalo sauce. The texture of the seitan was really interesting in a good way. What I mean by that is the seitan I make at home is a little more dense and pleasantly chewy, and WaterCourse’s is much more airy and light. There was a reason for this. The lightness of the seitan basically allowed any sauce to fully infuse into the pieces, which is exactly what happened with the buffalo sauce, and WOW, what a sauce! It was tangy and spicy. The celery and vegan ranch that it came with were welcome sides to cool down our mouths. We loved it… Really really loved it. The one small problem… Which shouldn’t even be considered much of a problem is that the serving portions are HUGE. So our family of four could get through the appetizer without problem, but we couldn’t finish our entrees! So, if you’re planning on having appetizers, be sure to consider sharing entrees afterward.

Dumpling decided to have the Thai Peanut Stir Fry with grilled tofu. The tofu was nicely grilled and quite firm to stand up to the sauce and veggies. The veggies were crisp and fresh. The dish was good… Not great. I guess when you have a whole slew of vegan and vegetarian Thai places in Los Angeles, you appreciate great peanut sauces. If the sauce were a little more robust, it would have stood up to the thick tofu better…or maybe if we had chosen breaded tofu, it would have absorbed more sauce. Of all the dishes we had in this first meal, this one was the least favorite. That said, it kicked the butt of anything else we could get in Denver or Utah, so take our very light criticism with a grain of salt. Another bonus was the brown rice it was served with. I love the fact that brown rice was the norm here.

I chose to have breakfast (of course) and selected The Conejos without the cheese, a beautiful dish of scrambled tofu, tempeh chorizo, home fries, salsa, and avocado with a choice of bread (I went with the corn tortillas). This was one hearty dish. The slight tanginess of the salsa worked perfectly with the salty, earthy tempeh chorizo, and it was all tempered with the creaminess of the avocado. The tofu and potatoes added body and absorbed the flavors well. It was fantastic! I was most amazed by the tempeh chorizo. It wasn’t too spicy, but had such a great flavor. I’ve had plenty of soyrizo and similar things, but they’ve all been based on soy or TVP, so it was wonderful to have one based on tempeh!

Baby Corn takes after me, so she chose to have breakfast for lunch and selected the Breakfast Burrito without the cheese. Even without the appetizer, this would have been difficult to finish on her own. It’s understandable, considering the fact that the burrito was ginormous! Almost the size of her head, it was chock full of refried beans, tofu, and home fries, and it was smothered in a green chile sauce. Each ingredient in the filling was great alone, and it was even better all combined. The green chile sauce was balanced with sour and salty flavors, and it had a nice little kick to it. Not too spicy… Definitely not as spicy as the buffalo sauce… It had great warmth and depth of flavor.

Sweet Potato went with a sandwich called The Grinder and, of course, opted for no cheese. It’s a French baguette stuffed with shaved seitan, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and avocado served with an au jus. Think of it as a fancy vegan French dip. This was incredible… Really really incredible. The seitan seemed more firm than the one used for the Buffalo Seitan Wings. It was pleasantly chewy with a little saltiness. The onions, peppers, and mushrooms were all lightly sauteed but not mushy. The avocado added creaminess and a full-bodied flavor. What can I say about the au jus it was served with? It was like a nice broth with a little soy sauce or liquid aminos. I’m sure there were other spices and such, but the bottom line was that it was amazing. It seasoned and moistened the baguette without overpowering the rest of the sandwich. The Grinder, like all the sandwiches and wraps, came with two sides. There are some great sides here… From mashed potatoes and gravy to the soup du jour to fries to steamed greens to brown rice… In fact, there were even more options than I’ve listed. Sweet Potato went with the steamed greens and sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were okay, but the greens were excellent. All in all, this was our favorite dish of lunch. If you visit, make sure you try the mashed potatoes and gravy, soup, or quinoa salad. Those were phenomenal!

We had no room for dessert after lunch… In fact, none of us even came close to finishing our meals. We would have stuffed ourselves more so that we would waste less, but like the Buddhist saying, “if you finish your meal when you’re full, you’re still wasting the food.” It was a learning experience for all of us. We ordered too much, but didn’t make the same mistake again. We went back for dinner that night (and dinner the next night, and lunch the following day), so we had plenty of other opportunities to finish other meals and order dessert. Suffice to say that dessert is great at WaterCourse. On our other visits, we tried some of the muffins, the Scout Cookie, the Sweet Potato Cinnamon Roll, and slices of the Boston Cream Pie and Chocolate Cake. The muffins and Cinnamon Roll make a great breakfast. They have gluten free muffins as well. The cakes were sweet, but also had other flavors to give them depth. The girls loved the Boston Cream Pie the most, but I really liked the Scout Cookie. Just imagine a big, wholesome, vegan Samoa-like cookie… But better (and vegan). Next time we’ll be sure to take photos before finishing them.

We really enjoyed everything we tried there (food-wise… Not just desserts). By the second meal, we’d learned the trick to ordering… One appetizer, two entrees, and a dessert for the four of us. We’ll also make sure that we order more of their vegan milkshakes! The food is fancy yet down to earth, the prices are fair, and the service was excellent. I have to admit, although there’s a plethora of vegan and vegetarian places in the Greater Los Angeles area, very few match WaterCourse for quality and variety. It ranks right up there in our favorites with Madeleine Bistro, Shojin, and Cha-Ya. Props to the two Lucases who served us. We wish we had eaten there more times, but we’ll save that for a later visit. Unfortunately, my business doesn’t usually take me to Denver, but we’ll be looking forward to the next time we make it to the Mile High City. And on that future visit, we plan on just going to WaterCourse for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

WaterCourse Foods
837 E. 17th Ave.
Denver, CO 80218
303.832.7313