"How can vegan sushi even taste like sushi, when there's no seafood in it?!"
Seafood (aka seaweed) is what they're wrapped in, and what's served beside it, as a salad.
Sea animals, like crabs processed into crab sticks, don't taste like anything at all, yet crab stick Cali rolls still taste like sushi, right? So what makes this any different?
Our only limitations are what we set for ourselves -but our options are plenty!
Scroll down for Cali Roll recipes, and a link to a Vegan Tomato Tuna Suchi recipe as well!
Cruelty-Free Sushi Recipe
Instead of rice, I usually use quinoa (see pictures below).
I over-cook it, and add a bit of apple cider vinegar to make it more like sticky rice.
You can even add a tablespoon of very soft avocado and little bit of shredded zucchini to the quinoa, for a stickier texture.
The different rolls in the pictures are combinations of the following:
-Avocados
-Cucumber
-Red & yellow bell peppers
-Asparagus
-Red onions
-Mangoes marinated in smoked mesquite
Remember: Kelp is always a big help. Both for taste and for health.
Cut all the veggies julienne, spread the quinoa, and start rolling. You can sprinkle on some sesame seeds, kelp, and spirulina, both as garnish and a taste of the sea.
Play around and experiment with your ingredients. Mix and match, any & all, veggies to make your rolls.
Just let your palate guide you to the right flavor combinations and food creations.
I made these with a seaweed salad on the side.
The salad was a combination of the following seaweeds (all raw, organic, & easy for the body to absorb) wakame, hijiki, arame, kelp, a few drops of coconut aminos, sesame seed oil, and black & white sesame seeds.
I use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce, a few drops of lime, crushed garlic, chili, and finely chopped cayenne pepper. No wasabi necessary 💚 Add your pickled ginger and serve!
If you're looking for a wasabi substitute, try crushing up some papaya seeds into your coconut amino sauce. They taste just like mild wasabi, and they're also an amazing parasite cleanse.
If you can't get your hands on coconut aminos, gluten-free Tamari sauce is still slightly better than soy sauce.
Here are some other ingredients you can play with:
-Zucchini
-Chopped Arugula
-Chopped Baby Spinach
-Spicy Pineapple. Thin strips of pineapple, slightly sauteed with cayenne and cilantro.
-Chives
-Tomato Tuna. Slightly boiled, peeled, seeded, cut, and marinated in kelp & a few drops of coconut aminos (tastes and feels like raw tuna)
Click >>here << for the Vegan Tomato-Tuna Sushi & Nigiri Recipe
Make different rolls, use what you already have in the fridge, but I do recommend always having some avocado and cucumber in the mix.
I made this recipe-pic below a few years ago. Feel free to save it as a kitchen cheat-sheet.
If you find yourself out of nori papers, use flat strips of cucumber or zucchini to wrap your sushi in. Let your creativity and imagination flow..
Image Source 1 Image Source 2 ImageSource 3 Image Source 4 Image Source 5
Great ideas! Algae truly are seafood.
The thought of using quinoa instead of rice in sushi would have never crossed my mind before I read this though. After all the very word sushi refers to the vinegared rice present in all types of sushi. But then again, it's just a word, so yeah, why not quinoa instead. Just curious, do you avoid rice altogether? And if so why?
Concerning hijiki you might like to know that it has been shown to contain loads of arsenic (see linked video). I even avoid kelp, except in very small amounts.
Now I'm craving sushi, lol
I don't like using rice due to its lack of nutritional value, but at times I do, like for making the Tomato-Tuna. Quinoa won't hold itself up without being wrapped in nori.
I didn't actually know that about hijiki. Thank you for telling me about it, I'll remove it from the list ;)
Beautiful!
Thank you so much for sharing all this great ideas! 😊 I never thought of to use quinoa instead of rice. And the tomatoe tuna.... :D That looks like real tuna!
I'm posting the Tomato-Tuna recipe in a few minutes ;) Hope you try them
definitely saving this! amazing recipes! looks delicious!
How does the tomato tuna taste? I never was big on tuna to boot this seems interesting to me!