Vegan sushi platter composed of rice, sweet potatoes and beets. Presented on a woven, edible cucumber mat.
You guys, we are so excited about this recipe! Not only is it delicious, but we had so much fun creating our woven cucumber mat to present our vegan sushi on.
We are heading off to Bordeaux tomorrow afternoon. We are really excited to pack our little shared suitcase and head off for a weekend with friends. We are also excited about wine tasting in Bordeaux and some really fun foodie adventures that we have planned. More on that next week… but first… our vegan sushi recipe and woven cucumber mat instruction.
Vegan sushi platter
We love making sushi and all different kinds of maki and have had more than one very funny experience where we tried to roll maki and it was a disaster! This is something that definitely takes practice. For this recipe, we were making sushi which was relatively quick and easy (+ still a whole lotta fun!).
Just cut your veggies into the right shape and size and place them on the bed of rice. We cut small strips of seaweed that we could wrap around the rice and veggie sushi to hold everything together and give them that “real” sushi look. We were really happy with how it turned out.
We love eating and sharing a variety of food and every once in a while, a great vegan recipe is in order!
This “sushi” platter is entirely veggie based. We used all organic vegetables that we picked up at our favorite market in Paris : the Marché d’Aligre.
The Marché d’Aligre has a fantastic selection of organic fruits and veggies, as well as wine, spices, beer, fish, meats, cheese, anything and everything really. There is something for everyone and it is a foodie’s paradise! If you are in Paris, and would love an authentic food experience, we highly recommend getting up early on a Sunday and heading to the Marché d’Aligre (address at the end of this post).
We served the vegan sushi with a spicy, soy sauce, dipping sauce.
This recipe is awesome because it is entirely vegan, full of delicious vegetables and also really fun to make. We wanted to try a new plating technique which is cucumber weaving.
Cucumber weaving tutorial
Cucumber weaving looks really pretty and slightly complex but it really is quite simple.
Cut the cucumber into long strips that are approximately 1 inch thick.
Our grid was not quite a square : 9 cucumber strips wide and only 7 long but you can create the size that works for you.
Lay the cucumber slices vertically in a row, not too spaced out but not too close together either.
Start weaving your mat but taking one cucumber slice at a time and putting it over another slice, then under, then over… until you have completed one horizontal row. Continue until you have filled in your entire grid.
To make the little cucumber roses, cut a slice of cucumber (approximately 1 cm (width) x 8 cm (length) and roll, roll, roll to make a little rose and tuck the tip into the top of the rose to hold the flower in place.
This is simple (and a touch messy because the cucumber contains quite a lot of water). It is slightly time-consuming at first but will become easier as you get more practice!
Your friends will love this aesthetic touch so much that you’ll probably want to create this mat to present other dishes as well.
Vegan sushi + cucumber weaving tutorial
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 16 1x
Description
Learn to make your own VEGAN sushi platter with a spicy soy dipping sauce, presented on a woven cucumber mat.
Ingredients
For the vegan sushi
- ¼ cucumber
- 1 medium beet
- ½ sweet potato
- 1/3 butternut squash
For the rice
- 1 cup of wholegrain round/dessert rice
- 3 cups of water
- Nori seaweed
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tsp powdered tumeric
- Salt & pepper to taste
- A dollop of wasabi (optional)
For the dipping sauce
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 fresh red spicy peppers
Instructions
For the rice
- Pour the rice into a large bowl.
- Fill the bowl with cold water.
- Move the rice around in the bowl rapidly.
- Use a colander to drain the rice.
- Repeat 3-4 times (until the water is practically clear).
- Leave in the colander to dry for 30 minutes.
- Add the olive oil to a large pan.
- Heat on medium heat.
- Add the tumeric. Stir gently (to keep the tumeric from burning).
- Cook for 1 minute.
- Pour the rice into the pan. Stir.
- Cook the rice in the oil for 2 minutes.
- Add 3 cups of the water to the pan.
- Cover the pan.
- Increase the heat to high.
- When the water begins to boil, turn to very low heat.
- Careful, do not remove the lid of the pan ! (You want to keep all of the steam inside the pot to cook the rice.)
- Cook on low heat for 45-50 minutes.
- Remove from heat and leave to cool.
For the vegetables
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)
- Peel the sweet potato, butternut squash and beet.
- Cut the sweet potato, butternut squash, beet and cucumber into 3cm (length) x 1 cm (width) x ½ cm (thickness) rectangles.
- Put the sweet potato and butternut squash rectangles on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until you can pick with a fork. (The result should be somewhat firm so that the vegetables will stay on top of the rice.)
- Leave to cool.
- Put the beet in a casserole, add 2 cups of water, ½ of apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp of salt.
- Bring to a boil on high heat and cook for 10 minutes. When ready, the beet should be firm but you should be able to pick it with a fork.
- Remove from heat and leave to cool while sitting in the water.
For the sushi
- Cut the nori into 1/2 cm (width) x 8 cm (length) strips. (Make 16 nori strips.)
- Put a small handful of rice in the palm of your hand.
- Using your pointer and middle finger, push the rice into the palm of your hand to make a sushi shape.
- At this point, if you like, you can add a small dollop of wasabi to the rice for an extra flavor kick !
- Take 1 nori strip and add a little bit of moisture to the strip (a couple drops of water) so that you can bend it easily.
- Place the nori strip horizontally on the work space.
- Place the rice on the nori strip vertically close to one end of the strip.
- Place the vegetable on the rice vertically.
- Wrap the sushi with the nori strip.
- Repeat for all 16 pieces of sushi.
For the dipping sauce
- Pour the soy sauce into a small dish.
- Thinly slice the fresh hot peppers and add them to the soy sauce.
- Careful to wash your hands after handling the spicy peppers !
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Healthy lunch
- Cuisine: Japanese
Shaheen says
I make sushi from scratch, but i have never made it like this. Thanks for the tutorial. Its a wonderful change.
A Hedgehog in the Kitchen says
Hi Shaheen! We’re so happy you like it. Let us know if you make it!
Kari @ bite-sized thoughts says
This is so incredibly impressive! I struggle to make sushi look presentable, never mind create a cucumber mat on which to serve it 🙂 Thanks for the tutorial.
I hope you have a great holiday too!
Mary Ellen @ VNutrition says
I love vegan sushi! I took a course on veggie sushi making but forgot everything I learned already. Your recipe will help me refresh. I love the idea of the mat! So cool! Have a wonderful time in Bordeaux!
Thanks so much for linking up with us for Healthy Vegan Fridays! I’m Pinning and sharing!
GiGi Eats says
OMG that cucumber weave is the bomb! And I really wanna make sushi – it’s happening this year, that’s for sure!
A Hedgehog in the Kitchen says
Thanks so much! We hope you make it and love it! 🙂
Nico @ yumsome says
Wow, that looks so cool, especially the cucumber mat! I’ve made vegan sushi loads of times but only rolls, not little parcels like you’ve done. Yours look so elegant.
BTW, when I first saw the pics, I thought, “Wow, chocolate sushi”… and then I realised it was beetroot… and felt a teeny bit disappointed! Ha ha ha!
Hope you had a lovely weekend away! xx
A Hedgehog in the Kitchen says
Thank you, Nico! I would love to see your vegan sushi rolls! Also, you have inspired us to make chocolate sushi! That sounds AMAZING! Bordeaux was so lovely – we will have a post about it on the blog soon! Thanks so much for stopping by to say hi! XO
James says
I enjoy making sushi at home but have never made sushi like this. This is so adorable. love the idea of the cucumer mat!
A Hedgehog in the Kitchen says
Hi James! Thanks so much. It’s really fun to make! I stopped by your site too – what a great resource for making and understanding sushi!
Tony Chen says
OMG those sushi looks so awesome! Moreover I can’t believe you made these wonderful sushi just from the organic materials you have in your kitchen 😀 I bet you had as much thing eating these delicious sushi as much as you enjoyed making them