Plant Based Sushi: rainbow roll, spicy cauli, teriyaki mushroom

Sushi is one of the go to take out meals in our house. There are tons of cheap and tasty sushi restaurants in Vancouver, so it’s super convenient. With some of my favourites in mind (like spicy tuna), I decided to embark on an adventure of creating healthy plant filled alternatives. I won’t lie, making all of these fillings at once is rather time consuming. But so tasty. I’m really happy with how they turned out, and I hope you like them too.

This is not a post about the technical side of how to make sushi. I’m not an expert and there are people who get way into the dos and don’ts of how to roll or season the rice. I’m armed with some basic knowledge, but mostly I wing it. There are oodles of posts/videos/articles out there on how to make sushi and sushi rice if you are unfamiliar 🙂 This post IS here to give you some tasty vegan filling options when you do want to make sushi!

Rainbow Roll
This roll is very open to your own modifications, feel free to use whichever vegetables you like or have on hand. To make this colourful roll I used: carrot, purple cabbage, Thai basil, cucumber, and red pepper. I chopped them all into matchsticks. Had my avocado been ripe, I would have used it as well. Other greens like romaine lettuce or spinach would also be good.
Miso Sauce:
2 tbs Lemon Juice
2 tbs Water
1 tbs Miso Paste
1 tbs Toasted Sesame Oil
½ tsp Grated Ginger (so it’s more like a paste)

Mix/whisk all of the ingredients together well. This makes quite a concentrated sauce; if you don’t want it as strong, add more water.

I used a little bit of sauce inside the rainbow roll, before rolling. Then drizzled on the rolls after. You can also use it as a dipping sauce.

Spicy Cauli Roll
Steamed Cauliflower
Spicy Mayo Sauce:
½ cup Cashews
1 tbs Lemon Juice
3 tbs Sriracha (or more)
A little water, for blending
Salt, to taste

1. Soak cashews in water for a couple hours or overnight.
2. Steam some cauliflower florets until they are softer – but still have some texture. Stop steaming them before they hit your ideal texture, they will soften a little after you take them off the heat. Let them cool.
3. Now that your cashews have soaked, add them to a blender/food processor with all the other ingredients, except the cauliflower. You are trying to make a paste/thick sauce, thus only add a little water as necessary for blending.
4. Once you have prepared the spicy vegan mayo sauce, roughly chop the cooled cauli florets. Mix sauce with the chopped cauliflower. (see photo above for texture)

You’ll likely have extra sauce, depending on how many rolls you make. It’s yummy, and can be used on other things 🙂

Teriyaki Mushroom Roll
1/3 cup Tamari Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sweetener aprox. (maple syrup, agave, honey)
1 Minced Clove Garlic
2 King Oyster Mushrooms* (thinly sliced)
Cucumber

1. Mix soy sauce, sweetener, and garlic in a bowl. Add the mushroom slices and let marinate for 15 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and marinade to a pan and cook.
3. Once the mushrooms have cooled, roll with some matchstick cut cucumber.

*You could use any other mushroom, but I really like the ‘meaty’ texture of the king oyster for this recipe