Butterfly Pea Purple Rice Rolls
Naturally purple rice with flowers. Entirely plant-based and full of flavor.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Serves
- 2
- Level
- Easy
Photo: Valeria Boltneva / Pexels
Butterfly Pea Purple Rice Rolls proves that sushi night and Japanese comfort food do not need fish or meat. Butterfly pea flowers turn rice blue; a splash of rice vinegar shifts it to violet. Japanese cucumbers have tiny seeds and thin skin, so there is no need to peel or scoop them. Leftover components keep for a day in the fridge, but the finished dish is best eaten fresh.
Method
Wash 2 cups of sushi rice gently with your fingertips, changing the water until it is only faintly cloudy, then leave it to drain for 15 minutes so the grains hydrate evenly.
Add the rice and 2 1/4 cups of cold water to your rice cooker with a strip of kombu and use the white rice setting. When it clicks off, leave it closed for 10 more minutes. Steep the butterfly pea flowers in the measured water for 10 minutes, strain, and use that blue water to cook the rice.
Stir together the rice vinegar, sugar and salt until clear. Turn the hot rice into a shallow bowl, pour the seasoning evenly over it and cut through the rice with a paddle, fanning as you go so it cools quickly and turns shiny.
Prepare the vegetables: quarter the cucumber lengthwise and slice it into thin sticks. Halve, pit and peel the avocado, then cut it into thin slices.
Spread the rice over the nori on a plastic-wrapped mat, arrange the vegetables in a line and roll up tightly.
Slice with a wet knife into 8 pieces and serve with soy sauce.
Chef's note
Press tofu well so it browns and absorbs sauce.
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