Not your average sushi…

Not your average sushi…

Being a vegetarian since the late 1980’s, sushi was one thing which I was never really aware of. I’m not sure how much raw fish would have appealed to me anyway but bundles of colourful flavoursome vegetables all wrapped together tightly for a burst of flavour… yes please! 🙂 I’m not a great fan of rice (apart from brown rice I’ve cooked myself), and cold rice whilst delicious in itself is not the most easiest thing to prepare and store safely! So! here we have sushi with no raw fish and no rice! 😀 YUM!

Colourful sushi

Five a day… all in one!

You can of course use rice if you’re happy to do so and you can of course use your own selection of vegetables to suit your tastes. I have used a spicy paste to hold the ingredients together but you could use your favourite sauce, mayonnaise, houmous or even a natural yogurt (hubby just suggested marmite… ?!?)

Don’t worry of you don’t have a sushi rolling mat – it’s really not necessary and is just another thing to find a home for! That said my son has just requested one so that he can make his own sushi! My local Asian store sell them for less than a £1 and if it gets my son to add another dish to his repertoire then all’s well with me! 🙂

This week I’m sharing these with Angie over at Fiesta Friday co-hosted by the wonderful master of veg and spices Elaine @ Foodbod and the lovely Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook 🙂 While I’m sharing, I couldn’t let Deborah @ the Plant Based Pot Luck Party miss out so you’ll also find these over there too! Come and join the fun… if you don’t want to miss out on more amazing recipes and great conversation! 😛 😀

Not your average sushi (Vegan & Free-From)

• Servings: 1-2
• Time: 15-20 mins
• Difficulty: medium
• Print

Gather

• A selection of vegetables such as…
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 carrot
• 1/4 cucumber
• 1/2 avocado
• 2cm ginger
• Sushi nori sheets
• Spread/paste
• 1/2 cup sweetcorn kernels
• 1 tablespoon flaked coconut
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• Handful of fresh herbs (I used basil)
• 1/2 fresh lemon

Prepare

1. Peel and chop the vegetables into matchsticks. With round vegetables it is easier to cut a thin slice off each side so that you have a flat surface before chopping into smaller sticks. Aim to get the vegetables a similar size.
2. Peel the ginger and slice into very thin sticks (unless you love ginger and want a real zing then you can have bigger sticks)!
3. Gather all of your ingredients together and lay them out next to your work area.
4. Lay a sushi sheet in front of you and spread a thin layer of your chosen spread against the edge nearest you. One vegetable at a time, layer your vegetables across the sheet ensuring that each vegetable is represented the whole way across the sheet.
5. Add your sweetcorn in the same manner then add one stick of ginger across the sheet (try not to overlap the ginger).
6. Sprinkle the vegetables with coconut, sesame seeds and finally add a layer of herbs.
7. Finish the sushi with a drizzle of fresh lemon juice.
8. Now the fun part! Starting closest to you, start to fold the sushi sheet over the vegetables. Tuck the sheet around the vegetables as tightly as possible using a knife if it’s helpful. The sauce should enable you to create a seal and you will have a courgette-cucumber sized roll.
9. Add another thin layer of sauce at the open end of the sushi sheet, then continue to roll the vegetables (keeping them tightly wrapped) until the sheet joins. Firmly press the edges together to seal and place with the seal underneath. Hooray! You almost have sushi!
10. Continue with your remaining ingredients until you have several sushi rolls.
11. Take a sharp warm dry knife and cut your sushi rolls into 2-3cm pieces. Try to cut in one backwards motion rather than sawing back and forwards through them. Clean your knife as required to obtain a cleaner cut.
12. Enjoy! 🙂

Serve & Store

• Serve immediately or refrigerate until required.
• Add a dipping sauce which complements your spread such as sweet chili, tahini or minted yogurt.
• If your rolling skills need a bit of practice, you could serve the sushi on mini oatcakes or thinly sliced rye bread.
• Store refrigerated for up to two days (they will start to loose their shape and go limp after this).
• Make them again and use a different vegetable selection, different spread, different herbs, different seeds.

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