Vegan Sushi

​Good home made sushi starts with making proper sushi rice! You don't need to be an expert (I'm not) or have special tools to make something delicious. I am sharing the recipe for making sushi rice below. Then, I'm sharing a bit about each method of rolling the sushi that you can see pictured above, and some tips for success. For a quick demo on rice making and forming sushi, check out my You Tube videos. 

I made two types of sushi with one batch of rice.  12 pom pom sushi, and 3 classic rolls. (See my You Tube videos for demonstration on how to roll the different types.) I dipped the sushi in a spicy soy sauce dressing (a recipe I made from the Korean Vegan Cookbook but go ahead and just use soy sauce), and served with pickled ginger and a bit of wasabi. 

1. The first method is "Pom Pom" Sushi. Adorable perfectly round balls of rice with a dab of wasabi underneath small slices of avocado. The ingredients are simplistic, but these are beautiful to look at and incredibly delicious.  I used the recipe from a wonderful Japanese cookbook I have called Kansha by Elizabeth Andoh. Naming these "Pom Pom" Sushi was something  she fondly came up with, her mother in law called them  "temari - zushi". Whatever you call them, they are delicious. I made 12 pom pom sushi balls using 1 - 2 tbsp of rice per ball & 1/2 an avocado, sliced. (see my video for instructions) The avocado rice balls get wrapped in plastic wrap to form the perfect round shape, twisting it at the top to form a bundle, and are then refrigerated until set. Then you simply unwrap them and serve (I couldn't resist a little sprinkle of sesame seeds.)
2. The 2 method is the most common, I used the other half of my avocado and remaining rice to make 3 Maki rolls.  ​​                                                                                                            Fillings for Maki Rolls You can fill your sushi rolls with whatever you'd like. I opened my fridge and grabbed a carrot, spinach, and red cabbage. I think whatever combination you use, something with a bit of richness in combination with the mix of fresh veggies is the most delicious. Avocado, roasted sweet potato, or tempura anything (sweet potato, mushroom). If you are a fan of cream cheese in your sushi by all means go for it. My combination of avocado, julienned carrot, shaved cabbage and a few leaves of baby spinach was really tasty, so start there if you aren't sure.                                                                                                                                                         Tips For making sushi

• For best texture, make the rice and use it right away. Once it is cooled to room temperature it's ready. 
• Rinse and wash your rice before cooking really well. When there is no more cloudiness in the water, the rice is ready to cook. Swish it around in a bowl of water and strain. Repeat as many times as needed. 
• Dip your fingers in water when you're working with the cooked rice, it will prevent it from sticking to your hands so you can actually work with it!

Recipe: Sushi Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sushi rice, rinsed and washed
• 1 3/4 cups water

     Seasoned Rice Vinegar

• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Make your seasoned rice vinegar. Add rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt to a small pot. Heat until sugar and salt have dissolved and cool completely. 
2. Add your rinsed and washed rice to a pot. (see my "tips" above)
3. Pour in the water and bring to a boil, stir, cover and turn heat down to low.
4. Cook 6 -10 minutes on low. You can check it and take a taste at 6 minutes. If the water is gone (rice will still be wet) and the rice still seems to have too much crunch to it, add another splash of water and cover. 
5. When rice has absorbed all the water and is cooked through, remove the lid, turn your heat up  high, and stir for 30 seconds to dry out the rice a bit. Remove from heat.
6. Dump rice into a large, wide shallow bowl. Avoid metal and wood that has absorbed any strong flavours. I used a shallow ceramic salad bowl.
7. Now begin folding the rice and spreading/fanning it out in the bowl, at the same time  drizzle with a bit of the seasoned vinegar. Do this in a few stages, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid a bit at a time until you've used the whole batch of seasoned vinegar. (spreading / fanning the rice out helps it to cool quickly) **Do this gently, no need to squish your rice. 

Assembly:
See my YouTube videos if you don't know how to roll sushi! If you do great, this batch of rice will make approximately 4 rolls. OR as I did 12 pom pom sushi, and 3 rolls. 1 avocado was enough for all of them, and then use whatever else you want. Feel free to make a double batch of rice! Once the sushi are rolled and sliced, I will keep them for a day in the fridge, but it's better eaten straight away.