Isn’t it funny when you find a strange flavor combination that just works?! That’s how this sushi came about. It’s kind of a long story that I don’t want to bore you with…

Who am I kidding, I’m going to tell you.

And secretly you know you want to hear it

I was at work a few weeks ago and my coworker brought in an enormous amount of delicious grapefruits in from her backyard. Let me preface that my coworkers and I cannot do anything on a normal level, so we went a little overboard: grapefruit slices, grapefruit and sugar, grapefruit tea, grapefruit in our water, etc. If we could figure out a way to use it, we did. While in the midst of our grapefruit obsession, another coworker walked into our area and asked if we had even eaten grapefruit with soy sauce on it. I hadn’t, but I loved it! An amazing burst of salty and sour and sweet in your mouth at the same time. The flavors complemented each other perfectly!

That day I also happened to be a little low in potassium (don’t you hate muscle spasms in your eye! Uggh!) So I walked down to our little cafeteria to see if I could buy a banana. Unfortunately all they had was one of the greenest bananas I had ever seen. At that point, I didn’t care about flavor, I just wanted my face back to normal. So I paid for my banana and walked back to the grapefruit station. Acting silly, I put some soy sauce on the fluorescent green wrapped flesh to see if it would taste any better. To my surprise, it was pretty good. In fact, sushi good. I am an avid sushi lover, so I frequently compare foods to on a scale with sushi being the best and artificial satan sugar being the worst. It not only was right up there on the sushi scale, but it actually tasted like a piece of sashimi. I’m pretty sure it was due to the fact that it was a green banana and lacked the sweet flavor that develops with the ripening process. Whatever the case, it sent me into the kitchen to create this strange but delicious masterpiece…Banana Sashimi with Sushi rice!! I have also added a section on how to make them into rolls if you prefer the traditional roll up nori sushi. If you have ever been a little bit afraid of raw fish, but love sushi, this recipe is for you. However if you love traditional sushi, I promise, you won’t be disappointed :)

What you’ll need:

2-3 green bananas (the greener the better)

2-3 tbsp coconut aminos (or non-GMO soy sauce)

1 cup sushi rice

1 + 1/4 cup water

1 +1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp sea salt

Nori strips (description at the end of the post)

Wasabi (optional)

Kitchen Equipment:

Medium saucepan with lid

Cutting board

Non-serrated knife (sharpened)

Spoon or basting brush

Large bowl

Directions:

Measure out 1 cup of sushi rice and rinse well.

Place sushi rice in a saucepan and cover with 1 + 1/4 cup water. Leave uncovered and bring to a boil.

As soon as water begins to have a slight boil, reduce heat to low and cover saucepan. Make sure you turn the heat down as soon as you see little boiling bubbles or you will probably have a boiling-over mess on your stove…just sayin :/

As soon as you cover the rice, simmer on low for 20 minutes. Do not remove the lid anytime during the cooking process. When the timer goes off, remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Do not remove the lid until the 5 min are done!!

Time to prep the bananas. The greener bananas the better. The ones I am using are even a little more yellow than I wouldve liked but that’s all they had at the store that day. Try to get solid green if possible. Sometimes the produce people will hide them under the bananas on display in boxes below. Ask them for help if you can’t find any.

Green bananas do not peel like yellow bananas. Make a small slit in the top with a knife and then it should peel back easily.

Cut each banana in half.

Then cut the halves in half.

If the piece that is curled up has an angled end, cut it off so the ends are straight and it will lay flat a little easier. You are aiming to get it as close the the curled down piece shown in the far right side of the picture (next to the knife).

Place banana pieces on a plate. With a basting brush or spoon, coat the banana slices with coconut aminos.

Cover and place in the refrigerator until assembly.

When rice is done, it should be light and fluffy…not soggy or waterlogged.

Place rice in a non-metallic bowl to cool. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before handling. You can put it in the fridge to speed up the cooling process.

While the rice is cooling, take nori strips and slice small strips that are about 1/2 inch thick.

Take rice out of the fridge and mix in the rice vinegar and salt. With wet hands, take a small handful of rice and squeeze tightly into a ball. Gently form into an oval shape and lay on the plate. Make sure the rice is firmly packed together or you won’t be able to use chopsticks to pick it up. If you are using wasabi, spread a very small amount on the top of the rice. The banana seems to intensify the wasabi. You were warned

Place banana slices on top of rice. Wet the nori strips (very gently…they break easy) and place them on top of the banana. Using a knife, tuck the bottoms of the nori strips up under the rice.

Add chopsticks and enjoy!

If you like your sushi in roll form, here is what I did a little differently. Make sure your sushi rice is prepped, cooled and ready to go (see above instructions). Slice green banana in half across the middle, take the half and slice it in half long ways, and cut that half long ways into thirds.

Place banana on a plate and marinate in coconut aminos for a few minutes.

Lay out a piece of saran wrap to protect the sushi and place a sheet of nori on top. You want the short side of the sheet closest to you.

Place about 3/4 to 1 cup sushi rice on nori. Cover the whole sheet, leaving about 2 inches uncovered at the end farthest away from you.

Place 3 or 4 banana strips 1/3 of the way into the sushi roll.

Using your hands, tightly roll up the nori up and over the banana strips, gently squeezing as you roll.

Continue squeezing gently and rolling until you get to the section with no rice.

Wet the remaining area with a little water and roll the rest of the way up. The water will seal the roll together.

Place the roll on a plate while you make the other rolls.

It should look like this from the outside before you cut it.

Slice of the ends of the roll and discard or, sample your roll like I do These pieces do not hold up well for serving.

Extra tip: use a non-serrated knife to slice your rolls. It makes a much smoother cut. I used a serrated knife on the right side and a non-serrated on the left. The serrated side is crimped down. Booooo!

Slice the rolls into 3/4 – 1 inch slices.

Like so…

Mmmmmmm! This is what I had for lunch today

It was soooooo good too!

I can’t wait to make more soon! Enjoy!!

Nori is a seaweed, or sea veggie, that is sooooo good for you and delicious! It is slightly sweet and helps improve your skin. It is also loaded with Omega-3′s. Don’t believe me? Check out what Dr. Oz has to say on it here

Xoxo,

TIffany