Asian Bean and Rice Rolls

Ingredients

• 2 cups medium grain rice (such as sushi rice or jasmine rice)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar (or white distilled vinegar)
• 2 Tbs. dry cooking sherry
• 1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 Tbs. lemon zest
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. pine nuts or slivered almonds
• 1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. dark sesame oil
• 1 cup snow peas (diagonally sliced)
• 1-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 Tbs. water
• 2 – 15 oz. cans red beans (or light red kidney beans, rinsed and drained)
• 1 cup cucumber (chopped and seeded)
• 2 oranges (peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped)
• 4 green onions (and tops, thinly sliced)
• 1/4 tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 24 Boston lettuce leaves (or other leaf lettuce)

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook rice according to package directions. Heat vinegar, sherry, sugar, and lemon rind in small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is melted, about 1 minute. Drizzle vinegar mixture over rice and toss. While rice is cooking, cook pine nuts in sesame oil in small skillet over medium heat until toasted, about 2 minutes; remove from skillet. Add snow peas, ginger, and water to skillet; cook, covered, over medium heat until snow peas are crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir pine nuts, snow peas, ginger, beans, cucumber, orange, and green onions into rice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled; spoon an equal portion of packed rice mixture onto each lettuce leaf and roll up.