VEGAN spicy tuna sushi rolls!

I have been on a sushi kick and really enjoy making vegan sushi-- it's so easy! I've made many variations already including "raw salmon" rolls, but was excited to try this one that looks and tastes like real spicy tuna! It's completely based based, cruelty free, and isn't depleting our oceans' fish supply... so a more environmentally friendly alternative. Tomatoes act as the tuna pieces in this creative recipe. This recipe is from Carrots and Flowers.



Ingredients:

2 large tomatoes
1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce/liquid aminos/tamari
½ heaping teaspoon kelp powder
½ teaspoon minced ginger
½ tablespoon sriracha
½ tablespoon sesame oil
3 nori sheets
½ small cucumber
½ avocado

for the rice:
1 cup rice
1 cup + 2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Cook rice in a pot with water and bring to a boil. Cook until soft and fluffy.  When finished, add vinegar, salt and sugar and mash with a fork to make sure it's sticky.

While rice is cooking,  boil another small pot of water. Prepare a separate small bowl filled with ice water. Pierce tomatoes with a knife and drop into boiling water. Boil for a couple minutes until the skins start to peel off... remove them and immediately drop into bowl of ice water.

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, ginger, kelp, sriracha and oil. Stir well. Peel and slice tomatoes into strips and remove seeds and watery centers so you just have strips of firm flesh (that look like raw tuna!). Add flesh pieces to the sauce mixture and coat well.



Slice cucumber and avocado into thin match sticks. Prepare sushi rolling station on a bamboo rolling mat, or a towel covered in plastic wrap.

Place a nori sheet flat down. Wet your hands and place a thin layer of the cooked rice all over the roll leaving a thin edge at top and bottom of nori sheet. Lay out tomato pieces and veggies in a line across the sheet going horizontally (bottom of my mat in this photo is on the left side of the photos below). I didn't have a cucumber so I just used avocado with my spicy "tuna".



Peel up the edge of the roll closest to you and roll the edge up and over the fillings. Use your mat or towel with plastic to compress the roll, and then roll it again and compress until you have a long sushi roll. Use a wet finger to wet the farthest edge from you before sealing the edge. Cut the sushi into pieces with a sharp wet knife.



Sushi rolling and slicing may need practice.. don't get discouraged! If you need help rolling your sushi you can find a guide here.

Serve your rolls with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi and enjoy!