Hello friends of the Hive realm. The time has come for making sushi. Sushi is something that I love, but only once in a while.
I work in a vegan sushi restaurant yet I don't make it while I'm there. I do appetizers and desserts. I have a vague idea about what goes into the rolls at work. My boss uses some ingredients that I would never find in a regular store. He also uses ingredients that I don't recognize, and in most cases can't even pronounce the names of them.
Today I will come up with my own combinations. This will be based on what I have.
I have had people say to me, that they won't eat sushi because they don't want to eat raw fish. I tell them that "sushi" refers to sour rice. It is certain that sushi is very popular with raw fish, but there are countless types. I would have to study sushi, for the rest of my life, to know everything about it.
These days in the modern world, sushi can contain a variety of items, as long as they make sense to someone's palate.
I buy rice that is labelled as sushi rice. I have had sushi even made with quinoa but for me it has to be with rice.
First rinse the rice well as you would with any rice. This rice is a short grain with a bit of stickiness.
I put in in a colander to strain and let the water drip completely.
Sushi rice
3 cups sushi rice
3 cups water
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup agave or sugar
1 tablespoon salt
Normally sushi rice would have a sweet rice vinegar added at the end of cooking. Usually the sweetener is sugar. I avoid refined sugar and usually use agave or maple. I used agave for this, which is more neutral than maple. In the past I have bought a seasoned vinegar that was sweetened, which would be added straight in.
After mixing the vinegar, the sweetener, salt and oil in the pot, I realized I didn't need to do it. This would only be necessary to dissolve the sugar but agave is liquid so it all can be whisked together.
When using sugar the vinegar solution would be clear but in this case it made the rice have a slight colour to it. This doesn't bother me knowing that I don't have white sugar in my sushi.
After drizzling all of the vinegar in the rice, gently fold the rice to make sure it doesn't get mushy or break. When this is mixed, put it aside to get to room temperature. It is easier to work with if it's not cold from the fridge.
I wasn't sure at this point what exactly I would be putting in the rolls, but I was going to make a few different combinations.
There was an eggplant in the fridge that I sliced, salted and roasted in the oven. This would be an item that was cooked.
Of course I would have to put some tofu in this so I marinated some tofu in vegetable broth to cover in a pan with a splash of soy sauce, garlic powder, salt to taste. After half an hour I cooked it in the pan with the water poured out. It was cooled in the fridge.
For another cooked item I used a plant based egg. I bought a case of it from the restaurant supplier. It's not always available in stores. It's like a rare bird. This is ideal as a scramble.
I pour it in a non stick pan on medium and add a little black salt, which has a sulfuric taste like egg. I cook it like an omelette and cut it a little when it is cooled, to add to the sushi.
I also boiled some sweet potato strips and that was the end of the cooked items. The raw items were pulled out of the fridge and chopped up. I wasn't sure at this point which combinations I would put together until the seaweed sheets(nori) were put out.
The ingredients are approximate.
Fillings
1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1 mango in strips, 2 cups vegan egg, 2 cups broccoli, 1 sweet potato, 1 avocado, 2 stems green onion, 1 cup shredded cabbage, 1 cup sliced cucumber, 3 sliced radishes, 1 block of tofu, 1 medium eggplant, 1 cup roasted red pepper (I had it in a jar), 1 small red onion sliced thinly, 1 jalapeno pepper, 1 cup pickled mustard greens.
The amount of rice I had to work with was enough for 8 nori sheets but the amount can be less or more depending on the size of roll you want. I placed rice all over evenly on the sheet, using 8 sheets in total.
Have a bowl of water to dip your hands. It prevents the rice from sticking to your hands. I also put a plastic wrap on the bottom but it's not really necessary.
This roll is my tribute to the long and many times I spent in Acapulco Mexico, which was recently devastated due to a storm. The city was wiped out, lives lost, and businesses demolished.
In 2018 I said goodbye to the city draped with mango trees. The food as most people know is often spicy with the classic jalapeno pepper.
For this roll I added jalapeno peppers, red sweet pepper, green mango, cucumber and red onion. For the sauce on the inside, I added spicy mayo made from vegan store bought mayo and a little hot sauce mixed in.
Grabbing the bottom end of the mat with the nori sheet, bring it up a little, while rolling and tucking.
Make sure the roll is really tight so it doesn't fall apart when you cut it.
I reversed this roll. The rice is on the outside. I decided to put the roasted red pepper on the rice, which will show on the outside.
After carefully flipping it over by covering the rice side with plastic wrap I added items to the nori side.
I chose to have this be a breakfast type roll with the plantbased egg and pickled mustard greens. I love pickled mustard greens. I randomly chose green onions and radishes to add to it.
The mayo used inside the roll was miso paste mixed with mayo and garlic. This was what I used for all of the rolls except for the "Acapulco".
Roll it up the same as the first roll.
I also added sesame seeds to the rice side before placing the red pepper.
This roll is my take on a snack that a vegan, who works out at the gym may eat.
Broccoli, sweet potato and red cabbage, carrots and green onions, with miso garlic mayo, should be a good workout snack.
I decided to reverse this one as well, and put the roasted eggplant on the outside. For the inside I added tofu, red and green peppers, carrots and red onion with miso garlic mayo.
When I rolled it, I forgot to put the eggplant on the rice, so I placed the roll on the eggplant and rolled it together afterwards. It all worked out the same.
After rolling this, I was finished playing with sushi and forgot to get the final photo of the roll, but you can see which one it is on the plate.
From left to right:
To accompany the rolls I had wasabi, pickled ginger, miso garlic mayo and a soy dipping sauce. The soy sauce had a little rice wine vinegar added and agave to sweeten a little.
I will have to mention that there were some left over filling items. I really didn't know when I started, what I would use, and how much I would need. I made it up as I went along, which made the whole process more fun.
With the leftover items I made a big epic salad the next day. I could have made more rice and more rolls but I opted to use it for salad.
If you like sushi, I encourage you to make your own if you haven't done it yet. You can use whatever you like. You can make your own rules and your own names.
What would you name your sushi roll and what would be in it?
Thanks for dropping by and have a great day
Photos taken with a Nikon D7500.
