This afternoon’s cooking class focused on “rolled foods”- pretty much an extension of appetizers from last Friday. Egg rolls, sushi and dolmas make delicious finger foods!

Instead of the usual “lecture” we have before a practicum, today’s chef had us jump right in. We were divided into groups to set up the mise-en-place for each recipe (basically just gather and prepare the ingredients), and I was on sushi prep. I cut carrots into batonnet sticks, halved scallion strips and mixed wasabi paste- all the usual fixins for a nori roll.

Once everything had been laid out, chef demonstrated the proper technique for rolling each recipe. We started with Chinese cabbage rolls, whole blanched cabbage leaves stuffed with sauteed watercress, mustard and a strip of marinated, broiled tempeh.

These were very light and had an interesting texture, with the fibrous cabbage, chewy tempeh and soft watercress. I’d never have thought to use cabbage in this way!

Next were the collards stuffed with couscous- a simple dish that would probably be best served atop a pretty salad as an appetizer.

Though the collards were blanched to soften the stems, some of them were still pretty hard and made rolling difficult. Chef taught us to lightly pound on the stem with the back end of our knives to crush them and make them more malleable, which worked like a charm. I didn’t end up trying one of these- they just didn’t excite me.

My favorite dish came next: sushi! We spread each sheet of toasted seaweed with a very thin layer of sticky rice (too much turns it into a “rice ball”), then added strips of carrots, raw salmon, avocado, scallion, wasabi and umeboshi paste.

These are actually really easy to make once you get the hang of it- makes you wonder why sushi is one of those foods people only really eat in restaurants, instead of making it at home. I added a ton of wasabi to my pieces. Best part!

The dolmas, or stuffed grape leaves, were full of a brown rice-pine nut-currant-cinnamon mixture that smelled incredible. And I was surprised to learn that spread out, grape leaves actually look like maple leaves! These need to marinate overnight, so we’ll get to try them tomorrow.

Everyone loves an egg roll, and these were no exception. We used Nasoya egg roll wrappers and stuffed them with chiffonaded Chinese cabbage, scallions, shredded carrots and grated tempeh. They were then deep fried in canola oil- obviously essential. Not gonna lie, though the filling was great, I enjoyed the fried pre-bought wrappers the most…

The last recipe was an “arame strudel,” which I found to be a funny name. We rolled cooked arame (a type of stringy black seaweed), carrots and onions up in phyllo dough, sealed them with sesame oil, then baked them. I didn’t have high expectations for these, but they actually ended up being one of my favorite dishes! Salty but not “seaweedy,” with a light, crunchy exterior.

Tomorrow we’ve got another salads class and garnishing. Baking starts a week from today!

What kinds of rolled foods do you enjoy making or eating? Have you ever made your own sushi?