Vegan Sushi

As I have mentioned in my previous pages I love to cook & love to experiment with flavours. I always give things a try and see if my tummy and Stoma can handle it. My husband & I love Japanese food & my husband is a big Sushi fan.

Different types of sushi are as follows:

  1. Maki – rice and filling wrapped in seaweed sheets.
  2. Nigiri – sushi rice is topped with usually some form of seafood.
  3. Sashimi – no rice The seafood is served on it’s own.
  4. Uramaki – a roll like maki, but with the rice on the inside and the seaweed wrapped around the filling.
  5. Temaki – cone shaped hand rolled sushi.

Sushi is traditionally made with (Shari) Rice or Sushi rice & Nori (Edible Seaweed sheets) This is widely available in most supermarkets. You can make a variety of sushi as listed above my favourite to make is Maki it is so simple and easy to make, you can create so many different fillings. Dipped in Soy sauce or sweet chilli sauce or wasabi if you & your stoma can handle it and served with pickled ginger (Gari) just tastes amazing.

I have wanted to stock up on various items from the Asian Supermarket for some time so a trip into the city resulted in us coming home with two bags full of wonderful ingredients. I had never made Sushi before but I found lots of different ideas for fillings in my recipe books. As you are probably aware I don’t eat meat or any dairy or fish so veggie Sushi is pretty much a super food for me. Nori contains calcium, vitamins A, C & E as well as magnesium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, thiamine and contains many health benefits. Rice also contains the majority of the vitamins and minerals listed above. Wasabi is known to have anti inflammatory and antibacterial benefits but feck its hot! Pickled ginger also carries lots of health benefits.

From the photo above you will see the fundamental ingredients that are required for your sushi.

Fundamentals

  1. Bamboo Sushi Rolling Mat
  2. 400g Sushi Rice
  3. Nori Sheets
  4. Cling film
  5. Pickled Ginger
  6. Soy Sauce
  7. Wasabi
  8. Sweet Chilli Sauce

Various ingredients that I used for my fillings

  1. Avocado Sliced
  2. Carrots Sliced into Matchsticks
  3. Cucumber Sliced into Matchsticks
  4. Spring Onions Sliced into Matchsticks
  5. Fresh spinach leaves
  6. Red & Yellow Salad peppers Sliced length ways & thinly
  7. Mango cut into diced cubes
  8. Tomatoes diced or sliced
  9. 3 large Mushrooms cut into diced cubes
  10. Tofu drained & pressed cut into small Matchsticks
  11. Cornflour
  12. 2 Tsp Garlic Salt
  13. Pepper & Chilli Flakes
  14. Half tsp of Harissa Powder
  15. Rice Wine Vinegar
  16. Sugar

Method

Rinse the sushi rice until the water runs clear place in a large pan and cover with 400ml water bring to the boil. Reduce heat cover with a lid & simmer for 10 minutes. Once your rice is cooked empty into a large baking tray set aside to go cold (Usually takes about 30 minutes) some recipes say keep it covered in the pan you cooked it in you can do this if you prefer. The Rice should be very sticky.

For each Maki Roll you make cover your bamboo mat with cling film take your Nori sheet. Have a bowl with water next to you for your hands and also a large glass of cold water. Take your spoon and spread the rice over the Nori sheets use your hands to spread and use the cleaning bowl to stop the rice from sticking to your hands. Ensure you don’t put to much rice on your Nori leave an inch gap at the top of the Nori and the bottom of the Nori Rice free. Add your fillings and get rolling, when you roll ensure that you use the mat to make your roll tight your ingredients should be where you start to roll your Nori. Remove the cling film & cut your roll into slices dip your knife into the glass of water between cuts.

Pickled Carrot & Pickled Ginger(Gari)

Take 6 Carrot Matchsticks place in a bowl add a couple of tbsp of Rice wine Vinegar add a tsp of sugar and some cool water leave to pickle in the fridge

Lay your pickled ginger & pickled carrot on top of the rice filled Nori with the ingredients Roll your Nori and then cut into maki Rolls.

Mushroom & Veggie Sushi

Add mushrooms oil & garlic powder & pepper to a pan and lightly fry. Add soy sauce. On top of your filled Nori add 8 spinach leaves, 4 cucumber sticks & 4 sticks of carrot top with the cooked mushrooms. Then Roll your Nori & slice into maki rolls & serve.

Avocado, Cucumber & Mango

Add 5 sticks of cucumber, 5 slices of Avocado & your small cubes of mango on top of your filled Nori then roll & slice into maki rolls.

Tofu Sushi

Cover your sliced tofu in cornflour and chilli flakes & harrisa powder & garlic powder & fry in olive oil. Add sliced pepper, 4 sliced carrot sticks and 4 cucumber sticks on top of your filled Nori then top with your cooked tofu. Roll your Nori & slice into maki rolls & serve.

Tomato, Onion, Cucumber & Spinach Sushi

Cover your filled Nori with 8 spinach leaves diced tomatoes, sliced onion and 4 cucumber sticks. Roll your nori and slice into maki rolls

You can basically add any filling that you like and that is suited to you these are just some of the ones that I made. Have a try and enjoy.

Lisa Xx