It's national sushi day (June 18), and what better way to celebrate this mouth-watering food than with a vegan version? I always hear from people that sushi is the hardest thing to give up on a vegan diet! And I can totally relate. There was a time in my life that I would “cheat” on my vegan diet once every few months to satiate my cravings. But once I watched Cowspiracy and did some of my own research on the fishing industry I knew that I couldn’t support it, even occasionally. So I needed to find an alternative for my sushi craving and this recipe definitely hits the spot!
This is my all-time favorite type of vegan sushi, and although it does take a little hunting in the grocery store for the Asian eggplant (one of the weirdest foods I've ever worked with), it's well worth it. I've even been told by my non-vegan friends that it tastes exactly like sushi with fish in it!
Ingredients
Brown rice
Seaweed sheets
Rice vinegar
Carrots
Cucumber
Avocado
Asian Eggplant
Sriracha
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS:
To start, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cut the eggplants lengthwise, about 2mm thick. Coat these front and back in the teriyaki, and let that cook in the oven for 35 minutes, flipping halfway through.
While you're letting the eggplant cook, cook the rice on the stove until it is soft. Then, pour 4 tsp of rice vinegar in the rice until it begins to stick together (more makes it stick more, but if you don’t love vinegar I would caution on using too much). Cover a sushi roller in saran wrap and lay a seaweed sheet on it, coating in a thin layer of rice. Then, in a line, put in your chopped up carrots, cucumbers, and avocado. Slowly roll until it's all one roll, and then cut into sushi pieces. If you're having trouble with this step (it took me lots of tries to get this right, don't worry), look up videos on sushi rolling on youtube!
Once it is rolled and cut, you can place the eggplant on top of the roll. I just barely covered it, but feel free to heap the eggplant on. Mix the vegan mayo and sriracha in a bowl to your preferred level of spiciness, and use that as a dip to enjoy!
Making these is a great way to celebrate national sushi day, and enjoy it even more because there's no raw fish involved! Let me know what you think in the comments below, and if you try this recipe send it to me on Instagram so I can see your finished product!
