My favourite veggie sushi roll

Hi again! For a few months now, I’ve been kind of obsessed with sushi. So much that I’ve started making my own. I always thought making your own sushi would be really difficult, but it’s actually not that hard if you know a few tricks. I’ve been eating vegetarian for quite a while now, and the few times a year that I eat sushi at a restaurant have been my only exception to that. However, I figured that when I’m making my own sushi, I might as well explore some vegetarian options. That’s how I came up with this delicious vegetarian sushi roll.

Ingredients

For the rice:
(sushi) rice*
rice vinegar / sushi seasoning*
salt
sugar
dried seaweed sheets (nori)*

Tools:
sushi rolling mat
plastic foil
a sharp knife

Fillings and toppings:
some fresh carrots
one ripe avocado
two or three eggs
one teaspoon of sugar
one tablespoon sesame seeds
chili flakes
soy sauce*
mayonnaise
sriracha sauce*
pickled ginger (gari)*
optional: sesame oil, lemon juice

* You can find these ingredients at an Asian supermarket, but some regular supermarkets have them as well.

How to make it

Preparing the rice

First, you need to cook the rice (I used this recipe for that). There’s a special kind of sushi rice*, but so far, I’ve just been using the rice that we have at home and that worked fine as well. It’s important to rinse the rice with some water before cooking it. When it’s done, I just put it in a bowl and I add some rice vinegar (that’s what makes it taste like typical sushi rice) and a little bit of salt and sugar, and I leave it to cool down for an hour.

Preparing the fillings

In the mean time, I prepare the fillings. I do the hot things first, so that they have time to cool down as well.

  • Sweet omelette: I mix some eggs (at least two, depending on how much sushi I’m making), a teaspoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of water and a teaspoon of sugar. Then I try to do something like in this video, but it’s okay if it’s not perfect, because it’s going in a roll anyway. Then I put it in the fridge to cool down, and afterwards I cut it into slices.
  • Roasted sesame seeds: I just put some sesame seeds in a pan (without any oil) and I let them roast on low heat for about 10 minutes.
  • Spicy mayonnaise: I mix 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon of sriracha sauce, and – optionally – also 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and a little bit of lemon juice.
  • Vegetables: I peel one or two fresh carrots and then I cut them in thin strips (sort of like this). I cut the avocado in half, then I carefully take of the peel and I cut the two avocado halves in thin slices.

Assembling the sushi roll

Set out all of your fillings on the table, as well as your bowl of rice, a bowl of water and a towel. Take your sushi rolling mat and wrap it in some plastic foil. Take a piece of nori that’s as wide as your rolling mat, and about 13 centimeter long. Usually, nori sheets are a bit longer than that, so you’ll probably have to cut off a bit. Put it on the mat with the rough side up. Use the bowl of water to make your hands wet (this will prevent the rice from sticking to your hands) and then put a layer of rice on the nori sheet. Cover about 10 centimeter lengthwise, leaving free about 3 centimeter. Next, put on a row of carrot strips, omelette slices, avocado slices, and spicy mayonnaise and sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds and some chili flakes on top. Then roll it up tightly, cut of the ends and cut it into pieces. It may be helpful to make wet your knife before, to prevent the rice from sticking to it.

(If you’re still not sure, take a look here for more instructions and illustrations.)

Almost done…

Serve it on a wooden plank or a nice plate. Pour some soy sauce into a dish and also add some mayonnaise, sriracha sauce and pickled ginger. Enjoy!