What do you when you have a sudden craving for sushi, don’t want to go out, or have time to break out sushi mats and mold makers, and don’t have large seaweed sheets? You improvise, that’s what you do. How about deconstructing sushi and make an amazing bowl instead? We had some leftover rice, a perfectly ripe avocado, Persian cucumbers, carrots and a few mini packages of roasted seaweed. The party is on!
Sushi rice or regular rice?
Did you know that you can make sushi or sticky rice using regular short grain rice (never long grain rice as it doesn’t enough starch) by soaking the rice for 15-30 minutes before cooking it and use a 1:1 ratio of water to rice. After the rice has cooled off, either add a teaspoon of sugar or rice vinegar
We also had a package of vegan Salmon Sashimi in the freezer we had bought online a while ago and was waiting to try. In case you were interested, we bought it from a company called GTFO It’s Vegan. We are not affiliated with it, but the have a truly amazing selection of vegan products.
But I digress… back to our vegan salmon! It looked so real! But what did it taste like? What about the texture? I was very curious to find out! Turns out, the texture was amazing! You can slice it and it hold its shape nicely. You can cut it into chunks, or very thin layers. It was moist just like you would expect raw fish to be.
Visually, as you can see, the product is stunning, down to the white veins. You can fool just about anyone. I don’t know how they did it! I can’t imagine how many times they failed until they got it to this point!
In terms of taste, it was a bit on the blander side. I am, by no mean, a fan of fishy taste but it would have been infused with more seaweed or saltiness that would have added a layer of umami. I ended up drizzling some lemon juice on it and it worked!
Don’t worry, you can still make this bowl without it. All you have to do is make your own vegan salmon steaks. They may not be as pretty but they will do the trick just the same!
Back to our sushi bowl. I had some cooked white rice that I had made the day before. So I decided to add a little rice vinegar to soften it and give it a sweet flavor.
Since I only had small packages of roasted seaweed (by the way these make the best travel snacks!), I opted for cutting them in small strips. It also makes it easier to mix the bowl.
I julienned the cucumber (you can also add some carrots or thinly sliced cabbage). Scooped and slice the avocado. Don’t forget to add some pickled ginger. You can now bought some in most grocery stores in the Asian section. Honestly, I think that avocado and pickled ginger are a match made in heaven! You can’t have one without the other!
Now the bowl is ready for an amazing sauce: Wasabi vegan mayo. It is the perfect companion to this bowl because it add a spicy note to the other flavors. You only need 3 ingredients. Vegan mayo, wasabi paste, and rice vinegar. You can also include a little agave or maple syrup, if you want. Just add enough vinegar to thin the sauce so that it can be drizzled.
Finish with a generous serving of white and black sesame seeds, chopped green onions or chives, and a drizzle of wasabi mayo. Since there is no cooking (okay I cheated using rice cooked the day before), it took me less than 10 minutes to get this bowl ready!
So “Meshiagare”as they say in Japan, or Bon appetit!
Sushi Bowl with Wasabi Mayo
Ingredients
Wasabi Mayo
- 1 tsp wasabi paste
- 2 tbsp vegan mayo (Vegenaise)
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp agave or maple syrup
Sticky rice
- 1 cup short grain or sushi rice
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
Bowl
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1 medium cucumber
- 1 sheet of roasted seaweed
- 1-3 tbsp pickled ginger
- 1-2 slices vegan salmon
- 2 tbsp white and/or black sesame seeds
Instructions
Cook the rice
- If using regular short-grain rice, soak 1 cup in water for 15-20 minutes.
- Rinse and add 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat. keep it covered for 5 minutes.
- Uncover and let it cool down. When you can touch it without burning your fingers, and stir in the rice vinegar.
Make the wasabi mayo
- Whisk 1 tbsp wasabi paste with 2 tbsp vegan mayo, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp agave or maple syrup. Taste and season.
Prepare the bowl
- Slice the avocado.
- Peel and julienne the cucumber.
- Cut the seaweed into strips.
- Cut the vegan salmon into thin slices.
- Add rice to the bowl, place the julienne cucumbers on one side, the pickled ginger, avocado slices next to it.
- Top with vegan salmon. Drizzle the wasabi mayo.
- Sprinkle some white or black sesame seeds.
Notes
Thinly sliced cabbage, pickled carrots or daikon, jicama... so many options!
Wasabi Mayo
1 tsp wasabi paste
2 tbsp vegenaise
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp agave or maple syrup (optional)
