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Lazy Cat Kitchen

A food blog with plant-based recipes from all over the world

Vegan sushi and homemade pickled ginger

July 21, 2015 by Ania - 12

Asian-inspired, easy, gluten-freego to recipe

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vegan sushi rolls

Sushi is one of these things that seem really daunting to make at home. I was like this too until I tried one day and realised that it’s not actually that hard. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m talking about the basic roll here, futomaki.

There are some kick-arse sushi chefs out there who make sushi you and I can only dream of mastering. I’m not saying we could have their job if we practise a little. I like acquiring new skills and learning how to make sushi has been very satisfying. It used to be this delicious and pretty thing I used to admire at Itsu and now I can now make it myself, which is awesome.

In case you are new to sushi making, I put together a little round-up of key ingredients at a glance. One thing to mention is do not be put off having a go if you don’t have a sushi mat, there are ways round it! You can either use one of those bamboo place mats (like my acid pink one in the photo) or even a regular tea towel folded thick and wrapped into a piece of cling film. In fact, even a regular sushi mat needs wrapping in cling film as it is a nightmare to keep clean otherwise.

I’ll also walk you through making your own pickled ginger, which is a must-have sushi condiment. You can obviously buy it ready-made if you prefer, but it is so easy to make at home and so much nicer (not to mention all the additives you are avoiding that way) that I recommend giving it a go. When you buy pickled ginger, you’ll notice that it is often pink. Ginger turns pink from vinegar if it’s young, but most commercially available ginger is mature ginger with an added food dye, unfortunately.

You can achieve the same effect by adding a touch of beetroot juice to your home made pickled ginger. It’s a bit difficult to gauge what is the right amount of beetroot to add so as you can see my ginger has gone a bit pink crazy. It still tastes delicious!

PS: If you make my vegan sushi, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram as @lazycatkitchen and use the #lazycatkitchen hashtag. I love seeing your takes on my recipes!

vegan sushi ingredients

vegan sushi rolls and pickled ginger

vegan sushi pieces

pickled ginger in jar

5.00 from 2 votes
Print
  • makes: 4 rolls = 32 pieces
  • prep: 40 min
  • cooking: 15 min

Ingredients


SUSHI

  • 4-5 nori sheets
  • 2 cups of sushi rice
  • 1 red pepper, julienned
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 1 carrot, julienned
  • a wedge of red cabbage, sliced thinly
  • 4 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tbsp sugar (I used raw cane sugar)
  • wasabi
  • tamari (for GF version) or soy sauce
  • pickled ginger (if not making your own)

PICKLED GINGER

  • a medium knob of ginger
  • ½ cup rice vinegar
  • ¼ cup sugar or maple syrup
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • a slice of beetroot (for colouring, optional)

Method

SUSHI

    1. Start by rinsing sushi rise very thoroughly. You basically need to keep on rinsing it until water runs clear and then 2 more times, just to be sure:).
    2. Put rice into a pot with a see-through lid with 1 and ½ cup (360 ml) of water. Put the lid on the pot and cook the rice on medium-low heat until all the water has been absorbed. Once it has, take the pot off the heat, but keep the lid on and rest it covered for another 10 mins.
    3. While the rice is cooking, combine 4 tbsp of rice vinegar, 2 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of soy sauce in a bowl. Mix until sugar has dissolved.
    4. Once the rice is ready, transfer it to a large pyrex dish or a clean tray so that it cools down really quickly. Trickle the vinegar mixture over it and gently fold it in with a wooden spatula/spoon making a cutting motion, like you would cut into a moussaka. Make sure you don’t mash the grains. Some people advocate fanning the rice after it has been seasoned to get a glossy texture – do that you if you like.
      • STEP 1 Wrap your sushi mat (bamboo mat or folded kitchen towel) in a large piece of cling film. Put the mat down, put a nori sheet on top of the mat, shiny side up. Grab some rice with your hands and spread it evenly on the nori sheet leaving 1 cm margin at the very top. As well as spreading the rice evenly, keep on pressing it into the mat. Keep a bowl with water handy so that you can clean your fingers if they get too sticky.
      • STEP 2 Stack vegetables at the bottom of the sheet. Be careful not to overfill the roll.
      • STEP 3 Using the mat, slowly start rolling the roll squeezing it tightly with both hands as your roll. Go back every now and then to make sure everything is tightly bonded.
      • STEP 4 Once you get to the end, dip your finger in water and brush the water on the margin to seal the roll. Finish rolling and set the roll aside. Repeat last 4 steps with the remaining nori sheets.

      rolling vegan sushi step by step

    5. Once you’ve rolled all sushi rolls, cut them into 1 cm slices with a sharp knife.

    PICKLED GINGER

    1. Peel the ginger and slice it widthwise (as opposed to legthwise) as thinly as possible. You can use a mandoline, a speed peeler or a sharp knife.
    2. Rub salt into ginger slices and put them in the fridge for about 1 hour.
    3. Just before ginger is ready to come out of the fridge, combine vinegar, 30 ml of water and sugar in a pot and slowly bring to boil.
    4. OPTIONAL: If you want to colour your ginger pink, you can add a slice of beetroot into the pickling liquid and remove them once the liquid cools down.
    5. Squeeze any excess moisture out of ginger and put it into a sterilised jar. Pour hot pickling liquid over the ginger. Let the liquid cool and put it into the fridge. It’s ready to eat the next day.
If you want more info on some of the ingredients that we use in our recipes, check out our glossary.
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This recipe has been written by Ania. She is the cook, stylist and photographer behind Lazy Cat Kitchen. You can read about her journey into food blogging here. You can also check her out on Pinterest and Instagram.

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    Comments

    Leave a comment

  1. Swaniyah says

    February 13, 2016 at 10:06 am

    These looks so delicious. I wanted to know how to make pickled ginger as I love it 🙂 Thank you. off to make my sushi now. x

    Reply
    • Ania says

      February 13, 2016 at 1:05 pm

      Awesome! Glad I could be of help – I would love to hear how you got on! x

      Reply
  2. Megan says

    March 29, 2016 at 7:28 pm

    Hi! Love learning how to pickle ginger! It’s my favorite part about sushi. How do you sterilize the jar to put the ginger in? And how long does the ginger last?
    Thanks 😄

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 29, 2016 at 8:24 pm

      Hi Megan!

      Glad this recipe comes useful. I simply boiled the jar in a pot of water for a few minutes. The ginger lasts for ages. As long as it is immersed in the pickling liquid it should be fine for two months at least.

      Hope that helps!

      Ania

      Reply
  3. 7littlebeauties says

    September 15, 2016 at 8:56 pm

    Hi, I made these for dinner last night (along with cooked nori rolls from another recipe book). I thought they were delicious, as was the pickled ginger. But… only one of my kids would eat them and my husband is on a low carb diet, so it’s going to be a while before I make them again 🙁 How long will the pickled ginger last in the fridge? I have it in a glass jar.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 15, 2016 at 9:40 pm

      Hi Shaina,

      Glad to hear that sushi went down well with at least half of your family 🙂 I reckon pickled ginger should last for several (3-4) weeks at least if it’s covered with immersed in the pickling liquid.

      Hope that helps,

      Ania

      Reply
  4. Isabel says

    May 27, 2018 at 2:59 am

    Hi Ania !
    My only concern is about the way to cook the sushi rice.
    Are you sure about proportion of 2 cups of rice for 1 1/2 of water?

    Thank you so much
    Isabel

    Reply
    • Ania says

      May 28, 2018 at 12:49 pm

      Hi Isabel,

      Yes, I know it seems like not enough water, but it really does work for me. I do cook it using absorption method though – let it continue to cook in its own stream for about 10 minutes after all the water has been absorbed, which works every time. Hope that helps! Ania

      Reply
  5. Charlotte says

    August 14, 2018 at 3:56 pm

    What would you recommend eating the sushi with?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      August 14, 2018 at 4:20 pm

      Hi Charlotte,

      I’m not sure what you mean exactly? A plate of sushi is a fully fledged and very filling meal, but if you are looking for something to serve it with, I guess a miso soup would go nicely and maybe some stir-fried greens? Ania

      Reply
  6. Nancy says

    November 3, 2020 at 11:26 am

    First time sushi at home,shape cannot perfect but taste was perfect.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      November 3, 2020 at 6:36 pm

      I’m delighted to hear that, Nancy and, as with most things, practice really makes perfect so I would encourage you to make them a couple more times 😉 and you’ll be a pro. Ania

      Reply

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Ania Marcinowska
Hi, I'm Ania. I love good food but I love animals more! Adopting a plant-based diet has been the best decision I've made and that's how this blog was born. It's a space where I want to show you that creating delicious plant-based food isn't actually hard at all.
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