Vegan sushi is something I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would make! But I did, and it worked very well. We served it as a starter at on of our pop-up dining events (check out our Green and Vegan FB page) a while back. A couple of people commented that it was the best sushi they had ever tasted!
In fact, I had never even eaten sushi before, nor had been keen to try it. But we had made a batch of my vegan “smoked salmon” (made from carrot shavings – see this post) and thought this would be a great filling for sushi.
First of all I had to learn to make sushi rice. That was mission on it’s own. I hunted down several recipes, and watched what some fellow who will remain nameless claim to have the perfect way. Well I followed his instructions to the letter, but the rice was under-cooked – so had to add more water and cook some more.
This is the way I cooked sushi rice in the end, and it has worked ok a couple of times.
Sushi rice –
Ingredients:
1 C sushi rice
2 C water
3 T rice wine vinegar
2 T sugar
1/2 t salt
What to do:
First wash/rinse the rice well, until water runs clear.
Put the cup of washed rice in a saucepan.
Add the 2 cups of water.
Bring to boil. Then reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 20 mins till all water absorbed. Do not lift the lid and peak!
While the rie is cooking, add the vinegar, sugar and salt to a small pan and heat gently, stirring every now and then till sugar and salt dissolved.
Set aside to cool till rice is ready.
Once the rice is ready, transfer it gently to a large china or glass bowl. (Do not add the vinegar mixture to a metal pot)
Add the cooled vinegar mixture and gently stir in with a rubber spatula.
You want the rice to cool as quickly as possible – if possible spread it out gently over a large chopping board.
Once the rice is cool, do not refrigerate – it should be used same day.
For the fillings, I used my “smoked Salmon” and cucumber in the maki, and roasted red pepper and mushrooms in the California rolls.
I also bought the nigiri pockets and fill them with rice, topped with vegan mayo and sweet onions.
There are loads of videos out there about how to roll sushi, so I wont go into that part now.
Bon apetit.
