sushi with sprouts & tahini miso ginger sauce

Oh my goodness gracious garbanzo beans. Make this NOW. You can taste the energy in this recipe, especially because of the sprouts. The sauce brings everything together deliciously with a savoury, sweet and salty flavour; the avocado adds a rich creaminess, the bell pepper gives you that juicy crunch and finally; the cucumber makes it all taste hella fresh. 

I made this as soon as I got up, to take pictures while the light was good, because I wasn't going to have another opportunity all day (it was a VERY busy day). I didn't want to eat it for breakfast so I have been craving it all day, until the moment I stepped back in the door a couple hours ago and was able to eat it. It's fun and easy to make, no special equipment necessary, and not much mess either. 

Let's roll, baby. 

raw sushi with bean sprouts & tahini miso ginger sauce: makes 2 rolls or more

Sushi rolls:
1/2 avocado 
1/3 cucumber
1/3 bell pepper
2 cups mung bean sprouts (or other fresh sprouts)
Seaweed sheets, like nori

Tahini sauce:
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon miso
2 tablespoons peeled ginger root
1 tablespoon tamari
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/8 cup water (more or less)

To make the sauce: blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy, adding liquid as needed.

To make the sushi: slice the cucumber, avocado and bell pepper very thin, and add anything else you want to. Now spread some sprouts evenly over a sheet of seaweed, but leave a bit of space at one end and drip a tiny bit of sauce all over the sheet. Place in your veggies and roll up like a pro! Keep doing this until you use all your stuff. Then with a sharp knife, slice carefully present your beautiful sushi to the lucky folks you're sharing this with. If that's just you - pretend to surprise yourself and get really excited. 

Vegan sushi just magically appeared from nowhere.

eat your sprouts

This post is quite short, but important!

On top of greens and fruit, I enjoy home-grown sprouts as a component of my diet. Usually I do alfalfa, but that's 'cause I'm boring and lazy. There are so many things you can sprout, from pumpkin and sesame seeds to chickpeas! They are SO EASY to grow, fun to watch, super cheap, and crazy-healthy.

You probably know a little about enzymes - they are in raw foods and help with digestion. Sprouts are one of the most enzyme-rich foods out there because they are little babies! They have just converted themselves into a totally new being and are teeming with new life. I suggest you do a little research to see what I'm talking about. I quickly found this page. But I've read many a book that praise the health benefits of home-made sprouts. Ann Wigmore was one of the first sprout advocators, and so are many other leading authorities on raw food nutrition. Just look for yourself on the internet or buy/borrow any raw food book.

These are alfalfa sprouts, I've eaten most of them already =)

You can put sprouts in virtually everything (except maybe desserts), even if you're not raw, vegan or veggie. They're great is salads, sushi, with noodles or soups... everything! I need to finish my math homework and start writing a philosophy paper, so I'll just direct you to this site, where I found some basic sprouting instructions. If you want my own directions on sprouting, just ask =) 

Soaking is also an important step before eating other nuts or seeds, as it neutralizes the enzyme inhibitors present in them. I think of it this way: in nature, the seeds/nuts won't be able to start growing a new plant until they soak up some moisture in the soil from the rain. So until you soak and/or sprout, they aren't technically living foods yet.