One of my favourite treats is raw food sushi. Having been veggie for over half my life, I don’t go in for the fishy version, which is only supposed to be made by the most experienced chefs, anyway. Instead, here are some of my favourite ideas ideas for delicious and easy-to-make raw food, vegan sushi.
Firstly, there are no hard and fast rules when making raw food, vegan sushi. You basically need a ‘main ingredient’, which might be:
- rice (yes, it’s cooked, but there are times when only rice will do!)
- ‘blitzed’ cauliflower
- sprouted alfalfa seeds
- a sprouted seed pate.
To this, you add your ‘interest’ – these are ingredients in thin sticks, which might include:
- beetroot sticks
- carrot sticks
- broccoli stalk sticks
- red pepper sticks
- avocado, thinly sliced
- sprouted mung beans or other lentils
- mange tout
- sliced asparagus
- French beans
- shredded kale / cavolo nero or spinach / greens
- shredded butternut or other winter squash
- or whatever else you have in season
Then you add your ‘optional extras’, which for me often include:
- shredded root ginger
- unpasteurised miso
- umeboshi plum puree
- wasabi powder
Of course, you’ll need nori sheets, to wrap it all up with.
Here’s How To Make Vegan Sushi
- Put your nori sheet onto a bamboo rolling sheet and spread your ‘main ingredient’ – rice / sprouted alfalfa / blitzed cauliflower / pate – whatever you’re choosing. Don’t make the layer too thick or your sushi will end up impossible to pick up and get in your mouth. Yes, been there, done it. Thankfully nobody has the pictures. 😉
- Add thin rows of your ‘interest’ ingredients – again, not too much.
- Add your ‘optional extras’. Less is more with these, as the flavours are intense.
- I tend to wet the final edge of the sushi nori with a little water, to help the roll stick together, once rolled. See the picture below.
Vegan sushi preparation – step 1 - Use the bamboo mat to roll up your sushi, making it a tight roll, but without squeezing all the filling out of the ends.
- Let your rolls wait for you, with the stuck end at the bottom, until you’re ready to cut them.
Vegan sushi preparation – step 2 - Use a sharp knife to cut your sushi roll into bite-sized segments. Wipe the knife with a cloth, if it gets gunky – otherwise it’ll be hard to keep going and you’ll be ripping your sushi, rather than cutting.
Serve with a simple dipping sauce. This evening I used 1 tablespoon sesame / flax oil, 1 tablespoon tamari and 1 teaspoon unpasteurised miso, mixed in a small serving dish.- Don’t leave it all to hang around. Best noshed within 1/2 an hour or so, or the nori seaweed goes rubbery and gets harder to chew!
So, there you have it. Vegan sushi, quick and easy. Huge apologies to any professional sushi chefs out there who are now spitting raw tuna at me… But this is how we make sushi at our place and it works well enough for us! 🙂
I’m curious: do you make vegan sushi at home? What are your favourite fillings?
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