Vegan Sushi with Sweet and Spicy Chili Veganaise Sauce

The finished product! Yummy!

     This recipe stems from Giada at Home’s recipe for Vegetable Rolls with Chili Mayonnaise. But, of course, I couldn’t find the rice paper/cellophane noodle wraps at my local grocery. So, already having the know-how to make sushi, I just used the recipe for the chili mayonnaise sauce with some vegetables and rolled that. But, obviously, mayonnaise isn’t vegan and there was also fish sauce in the origional recipe, so I substituted some things and changed a few ingredients around to make it vegan. Hope you try it!

Ingredients for the Sauce

• 1/2 cup veganaise
• 1/3 cup sweet thai chili sauce
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

Ingredients for the Rolls

• 1/3 red bell pepper
• 1/3 yellow bell pepper
• 1/3 green bell pepper
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 large carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• 1 pack nori, which are seaweed wraps for sushi (about 10 sheets, you’ll only need 3-4)
• about 4 cups cold, cooked sticky rice (short grain), I made mine the day before.

Directions

For the chili mayonnaise:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the veganaise, chili sauce, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic, brown sugar, mint, and basil.
2. Cut up the vegetables into shoots about 1/4 inch wide and 3 inches long.
3. Mix in the vegetables and let sit.

For Rolling:

• Place a nori sheet on your cutting board.
• Spoon about 3 small piles of sticky rice onto it.
• Before you spread it, DIP YOUR FINGERS IN WATER! This will make it easier and the rice won’t stick to your hands. Then spread the rice evenly on the sheet, and remember to leave about a 1 inch margin at the top.

               

• Onto the lower half of the sheet, place a few pieces of vegetables from the sauce bowl.
• Start slowly wrapping from the lower half up.
• Once you get to the 1 inch of nori left at the top, dip your finger in water and slide it across the margin. (This will keep it sealed.) Finish rolling.

               

• With a VERY SHARP knife, carefully slice the log into rolls. (You might want to junk the ends, they usually turn out uneven and loose, but the rest of the log is great!)
• Finish rolling all of your ingredients into rolls.

To Serve!

To serve these rolls, arrange them on a large plate or seving dish. On the side, have a small bowl for soy sauce at each setting. As an extra, you could have wasabi and pickled ginger on the serving dish with the sushi. Chopsticks are great, too!

 

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Authentic Yellow Rice

Yum, yum, yum! This yellow rice recipe is the best under a hearty helping of curry with naan on the side. (I have a really great curry recipe on this blog titled “Tasty and Traditional Vegan Curry”) The bit of cinnamon in this yellow rice recipe really sets it apart from the others and gives a unique taste anyone will love. Hope you try it!

Ingredients:

3/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 pinch cinnamon

3 cups water

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups long grain white rice ( or basmati, I used Jasmine)

Directions:

In a medium sized saucepan, heat the spices and herbs over low heat until fragrant, stirring, for about 30 seconds.

Add the rice and slightly toast it (for about 1-2 minutes, stirring)

Carefully pour in all of the water and add the salt if you haven’t already.

Cover and reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until the water is absorbed (about 20 mins)

When rice is done cooking, let sit for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork and serve under something or alone.

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Tasty and Traditional Vegan Curry

This curry is absolutely AMAZING. It is an easy recipe to make, and you can throw in most of the vegetables that are just sitting in your fridge or freezer. The ingredients are all very cheap, and I would think most people would have them already in their houses, but there are various spices. The curry freezes well, I usually make more than I would eat normally so I can freeze it. This is a superb recipe, especially with naan or pita bread on the side. This curry is the best served over yellow or white rice.

Ingredients:

1 large onion, diced

3 toes garlic, minced

2 cans garbanzo beans

3-4 handfuls spinach

1 can hominy

3 cans diced tomatos

5 small potatoes, peeled and diced (if you use red jacket potatoes, they do not need to be peeled)

4 cups vegetable broth or water

1/2 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp cumin (I used 1/2 tsp whole cumin and 1/2 tsp ground cumin)

2 tbsp curry powder (A good quality curry powder makes a very big difference!)

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp tumeric

1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Heat 2-3 tbsp in a VERY LARGE skillet or pot (I used a pot, just make sure you have a lid that fits on whatever you use), and throw in the onion. Cook 2-3 minutes and add the garlic garbanzo. Cook a few more minutes.

Add in the garbanzo beans, hominy, spinach, potatoes, tomatoes, water/broth, spices and herbs, and reduce the heat to medium-low and cover.

 Cook until the potatoes are soft and most of the liquid has cooked off. Remove from heat, then mash some of the solids to thicken the sauce.

Serve over yellow or white rice. (I have a recipe for yellow rice on this blog named “Authentic Yellow Rice”) With naan or pita bread on the side.

Enjoy!

Note: You can add in almost any kind of vegetables to recipe, I have used corns, okra, and many others. Just experiment!

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