Hard to Beet

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When I casually mentioned over carrot juice/grenadine cocktails at Rob's cyberprise birthday party last month that he enjoys beets and sushi, though not necessarily together, I thought no more of it and went on for a few days living the simple nomadic existence of the culinary bottom dweller. Reader Nora Streed wiped the nori from my eyes with this piece of zen peace. Remember as you read on that not a single one of us is named either Betty or Crocker, and Nora's advice to use "some" or "a little" of something is just that. Some. A little. You actually kind of sort of need to already know a little bit about some cooking to tackle this foodstuff. But hey--roll with it. If I could give Rob Brezsny anything in the world to tickle his toes, sweeten his nostrils, shake his chakras, straighten his hair, or giggle his mind, it would be my recipe for spring rolls with beets. --Nora Streed Here it is: Get some rice paper spring roll wrappers at the Asian grocery. Make some short grain sushi rice and let it cool. Add some sushi vinegar. Steam some beets which you have cut into narrow strips and let them cool. You can do the same with carrots if you like. Peel a cucumber or two and slice it the long way, remove the seeds, cut each half in half the long way again and slice each of these into thin slices. Put them into a bowl with salt and thinly sliced onions and let stand a while. Drain and rinse these and add them to the beets with some vinegar, some pressed garlic, a little shoyu, a little sesame oil. The beets and cucumbers should be coated with this mixture, but there shouldn't be a lot extra. Make a small pile of attractive sprigs of cilantro. Shred some romaine lettuce and put it also into a small pile. A good way to do this is to take about six to eight perfect and dry leaves of romaine lettuce and remove the tough parts of the ribs. Stack them together and roll them up the long way. Imagine a leafy, sloppy cigar. Then with a large, sharp knife slice through the roll at very small intervals. Chop some scallions and make them into another small pile. Have the following before you: Two or three wet linen napkins or tea towels. A bowl or skillet full of very hot but not boiling water (for soaking the wrappers). A stack of rice paper wrappers. The bowl of rice. The bowl of beets and cucumbers (they will by now have turned magenta). The piles of green things. A container or plate for the finished product. A smooth, clean surface to work on. (A plate or cookie sheet works). If you have not done this before, please be patient with yourself. Put a wrapper in the hot water to soak briefly--long enough for it to become flexible. Pick one without holes and be careful not to tear it. Put it on your work surface and cover it with a wet napkin for a while, until it becomes very soft but still sort of elastic. Put a line of beets and cilantro and cucumbers across the bottom, like where a mouth would be if it were a face drawing. Put a blob of rice on it. The rice should be about the size and shape of a finished spring roll. Put some of the greens on and around the rice. Put the bottom part of the wrapper (the chin) up over the rice snugly. Fold the sides in, being sure to make it slightly narrower at the top. Roll the thing snugly up and put on the plate and cover with another wet napkin. After you have done a few, you will find you can do more than one at a time. Nothing at all stops you from adding wasabe paste to this and using toasted nori on the outside instead of rice paper. Back to the Table of Contents. Home Surf the Boulevards network to other great alternative content sites.