Summer Vegetable Nori Rolls with Ginger Tahini Dipping Sauce

Seattle is H.O.T. right now. Like, beyond hot. And the air is filled with smoke, sadly (BC fires galore). And we have zero air conditioning, along with 90% of Seattleites.

And in the midst of all the heat and haze and efforts to avoid turning the stove on, these green snappy beauties come to mind. 

Clean, crunchy and packed with nutrients, these nori rolls are the peeeerrrrrfect afternoon snack on a hot summer day and make for a great appy for your next backyard BBQ. This veg combo is my favorite (and not just because they're so pretty...but they SO are, right?). Use whatever crunchy veg you have on hand and mix it up for a nutritional twist. 

The possibilities are endless and they're always a hit at summer dinner parties.

SUMMER VEGETABLE NORI ROLLS WITH GINGER TAHINI DIPPING SAUCE

Serves: 6-8 (makes roughly 12 rolls) | Prep time: 15 minutes | Total time: 25 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c tahini

• 1 Tbsp maple syrup or coconut nectar

• 2 tsp tamari

• juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tsp minced ginger

• 1/8 c water

• 1 large bunch swiss chard or collard greens

• 3-4 carrots, julienned

• 3-4 golden beets, julienned

• 8 asparagus spears, blanched and thinly sliced

• 1 large handful of sunflower sprouts (or whichever sprouts look fresh and seasonal from your market)

• 6-8 nori sheets, halved width-wise

• 1 small bunch of basil

• 1 small bunch of purple basil

• 1/2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

• 1/2 Tbsp black sesame seeds

• 2 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Dipping sauce: In a small bowl, whisk tahini, maple syrup, tamari, lemon juice, ginger and 1 Tbsp water. Add more water until desired consistency. Set aside.

2. Prep green leaves for rolling by cutting alongside the vein/stem (save stem for later use in another recipe or feed to dog - my pup loves kale stems!). Each whole leaf should yield 2 leaves for rolling.

3. Setting your mis en place: Prep your vegetables and arrange your ingredients in order for making the rolls: Julienne carrots and golden beets, blanch and thinly slice asparagus, thinly slice green onions, set out sunflower sprouts, whole purple basil and whole green basil (use all Italian basil if you cannot find purple), black and toasted sesame seeds, halved nori sheets, halved green leaves.

4. Rolling: Place a green leaf vertically down on your workspace and place a nori sheet shiny side down, on top of the leaf. At the edge closest to you, arrange a thin line of carrots, golden beets, asparagus, sunflower sprouts, whole green and purple basil, black and toasted sesame seeds, thinly sliced green onions and a drizzle of the dipping sauce. Roll tightly, using fingers to hold in place and lay seam side down. Continue for remaining ingredients. Serve with extra sauce for dipping.

Power of Purple

My favorite color as a child was purple.  Everything...from backpacks, to lunch boxes, to my jellies sandals, was some shade of purple royalty.  But purple foods as a child, forget it.  I was an eater of anything and everything white (scoffing at my child-self as I write this): angel hair pasta, parmesan cheese, butter, smart food popcorn, white pizza, vanilla ice cream, clear gummy bears, you name it. Fast forward 20 years and it's a complete flip.  Just about everything I choose in my material life is either white, or black (boring, I know). Yet, my foods, are LOADED with this majestic purple. Now that color in food, is beauty. And power.

Not only are these shades simply pretty to look at on a plate, it is scientifically-proven that the darker the shade, the higher the antioxidant level. Thus, dark foods with this glorious purple pigment, such as blackberries, grapes, purple figs, purple onions, cabbage, lavender and purple basil have amazing healing powers.

One of the primary antioxidants in purple produce is the flavanoids, more specifically, Resveratrol, which helps decrease inflammation, relax the arterial walls, increases circulation and leads to decreased blood pressure.

Purple foods also kill cancer cells.  And that even includes red wine (whaaaaaaat?!).  And to add to that, turmeric, which has curcumin in it, seems to boost this cancer cell fighting activity. So when having your next curry dish, here's your excuse to have that glass of red wine with dinner. 

Blueberries have anthocyanins in them which are excellent for your liver, BUT, black/purple rice, has more per gram than the blueberries. This boost can help reduce damage to the liver incurred from excess alcohol intake.  Pass the purple grains, por favor. (curry with purple rice and your glass of red wine, perhaps?)

And to get even more anthocyanin than blueberries AND black rice, we pass the black currants and bilberries to help reduce LDL (the bad) cholesterol and increase HDL (the good) cholesterol.

And let's not forget to mention that these little purple powerhouses make you look and feel younger and help you relaaaaax. On goes the lavender eye mask.

Vegetables: purple cabbage, eggplant, purple potatoes, purple peppers, purple onions

Fruits: blackberries, grapes, prunes, plums, figs

Plants: lavendar and purple basil

*the purple basil in this photo above has super high doses of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Calcium and is great for your skin, eyes and hair.  This just makes it that much easier to put purple on our plate.