If you’ve started following a vegan diet, but have a sushi-shaped hole in your life, you can absolutely make vegan sushi at home easily with these tips and tricks. Vegan sushi can be just as delicious as regular sushi but without the ethical impact.
What better time to get creative in the kitchen, and learn a new skill. Who knows, maybe you’ll even become known as the sushi maestro among your friends and family! In fact, you may even find that you don’t miss the fish after you have perfected vegan sushi recipes.
No one should have to go without their favorite treat, just because they are following a vegan diet. Nor should you feel like you have to go searching from store to store to find great sushi. With a little practice, you can master vegan sushi at home for yourself.
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Start with a sushi kit
When you’re starting out, getting a few tools can really help to finesse your sushi-making skills. It certainly makes things easier when you have the right tools and the right ingredients from the get-go.
It’s a great idea to purchase a sushi kit that includes a bamboo rolling mat, rice paddles, and chopsticks. You’ll need all of these items to make (and eat!) most sushi dishes. I found the sushi bazooka in this kit very useful, especially for beginners. You may also want to invest in sushi rice, sushi nori, and maybe even a recipe book to give you some ideas and inspiration for what you could make.
If you don’t have a rice cooker yet I found this one makes great sushi rice. I recommend using 1 cup short-grain rice with .9 cup of water and adding a kelp strip for giving the rice an umami flavor. Push the white rice button and prepping your other ingredients. This rice cooker comes with a steamer basket you can steam asparagus or other veggies.
After the rice is cooked put the rice in a bowl and make a sushi vinegar mixture with 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 1 tbsp. sugar, and 1 tbsp. of salt. Heat the vinegar, sugar, and salt until the spices dissolve then remove from heat and cut the mixture into the rice at a 45-degree angle with the rice paddle to coat every kernel of rice. Place a damp cloth over the bowl When the rice is cool you can start making your sushi.
Other popular base ingredients that you may need are rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and ginger. Not to mention lots of veggies!
Spice up your sushi
Sushi is all about the flavors, and wasabi can certainly pack a punch. Make wasabi one of your go-to flavors when you are creating vegan sushi, and you certainly won’t be disappointed. Your creation will be full of powerful flavor, and you definitely won’t miss your traditional, non-vegan seafood sushi.
Vegan mayo
And if wasabi isn’t your thing? You can use a different vegan mayo instead. Vegan mayo still adds a great flavor and texture to sushi, it just doesn’t have the same spiciness and potency as wasabi. This interesting vegan mayo made from sunflowers is a great alternative to traditional mayonnaise. It comes in a convenient squeezy tube which means that it’s easy to use when creating tricky vegan sushi dishes. Plus there is no animal products insight- it’s a win-win!
See Vegan Seaweed Caviar on Amazon
Vegan tuna
There are so many interesting ways to make plant-based meat and fish alternatives at home, and when it comes to sushi, the opportunities to get creative are endless.
A great way to make a convincing tuna substitute is to use tomato and pickled pepper in place of fish. You still get a ton of flavor- and it’s a similar color too! Check out tutorials on YouTube to make this recipe for yourself.
If you want your sushi to look the part, there are lots of different types of vegetables you can use to create mock fish. For example, if you’re missing salmon? Carrot can be a brilliant alternative- it’s a similar color and can be used flexibly in lots of different types of sushi. You can also use a homemade smoky, shredded carrot lox in place of salmon to lift the flavor of any vegan sushi dish.
You’re certainly don’t have to miss out on delicious, freshly prepared sushi just because you’ve decided to follow a vegan diet. Recipes, eateries, and supermarkets have come a long way in recent years, and you can now find vegan dishes almost everywhere you look. Veganism also gives you the chance to get creative in the kitchen, especially when it comes to fun and exciting dishes such as sushi.