Sushi - 4 vegetarian variants

Sushi is a dish, that needs a bit practice and time, but it's totally worth it! I mean, who doesn't love sushi! ^^ Once you got the hang of it, you'll make it again and again, because it's so much better and cheaper than store-bought. It's perfect for parties, buffets and bigger groups.

It's also very healthy, low-fat, gluten-free and without the cream cheese even vegan.

course	country	time	difficulty
main or starter	Japan	1h	tricky

Clockwise starting at 2 o'clock: maki with pepper and walnut cream cheese - california roll with tamago, spinach and roasted sesame - (non-veg) maki with salmon and avocado - maki with carrot, avocado and wasabi cream cheese - (non-veg) california roll with shrimps, avocado, wasabi cream cheese and roasted sesame - maki roll  with tamago, cucumber, pepper and walnut cream cheese

California roll with tamago, spinach and roasted sesame

Maki with carrot, avocado and wasabi cream cheese

 Maki with pepper and walnut cream cheese

Ingredients

Serves 4

Besides the ingredients you need a bamboo mat to make sushi.

Rice

imperial	metric
1 lb	450g	sushi rice
2 1/2 cup	600g	water
7 tbsp	100ml	rice vinegar
2 tbsp		sugar
1 tsp		salt

simplified tamago (Japanese omelet for sushi)

imperial	metric
3		eggs
1 tbsp		sugar
1/2 tbsp		rice vinegar
1/2 tsp		soy sauce

everything else

imperial	metric
~10		nori leaves
1		avocado
1		carrot
1/2		cucumber
some		spinach leaves, blanched or raw
1/4 cup	50g	walnuts

7oz
200g
cream cheese
some
wasabi

Instruction

Rice

• mix vinegar, sugar and salt in a small container and leave it until the rice is done
• wash rice in a sieve with cold water until the water runs clear
• but the rice in a small pot, add 2 1/2 cup cold water and let it sit for about 20min
• put on the lid and bring to boil slowly!
• cook on max heat for 2 min and turn the heat down on the lowest setting
• let it sit for 10min on the stove (with lid)
• let it sit for another 10min on the counter with a kitchen towel between pot and lid
• when the rice is done, add the sugar-vinegar to the rice and mix
• let the rice cool at least 30min before you use it (cover it with a wet cloth)

Tamago

• mix all ingredients but don't beat them, you want to bring as little air into the egg as possible
• put a nonstick pan on medium-low heat and brush with oil
• pour in the eggs and let it sit until solid
• flip it and leave it on the other side for another 5min
• transfer to a dish, let it cool and cut into slices for later use

Flavored cream cheese

• divide cream cheese in two even parts
• mix one part with about 1/2 tsp wasabi (or to your liking)
• roast walnuts in a dry pan until slightly brown and aromatic
• chop them up and mix them with the other part of cream cheese

Sushi

I think it's nearly impossible to explain how to roll sushi just by words, so I recommend looking at one of the instruction videos on youtube. I found this one very helpful.
Some things I found most important:

• if you don't plan on doing a mega roll, you just need about 1/2 (for california) to 2/3 (for maki) of a nori leaf
• to have a use for the 1/3 leftovers, you can glue two sheets together by simply using single rice grains (mashed with your thumb)
• for maki rolls, you have to leave a little stripe with no rice on your nori
• it's really important to press you bamboo mat firmly after the first round
• if the rice sticks to your hands, wet them slightly

These are the vegetarian combinations I made (see pictures above):

• maki with pepper and walnut cream cheese
• california roll with tamago, spinach and roasted sesame
• maki with carrot, avocado and wasabi cream cheese
• maki roll  with tamago, cucumber, pepper and walnut

Serve sushi with wasabi, pickled ginger and soy sauce. Serve sake and/or green to along with it.