I’ve never been a fan of raw fish, even when I was a meat eater. So whenever I went for sushi, I often only ordered the vegetarian rolls. However, the one seafood one I did enjoy was the spicy crab roll, and for some strange reason, I’ve been craving it lately!!! Then one night last week, I had a dream where this little vegan hack was born. I may have seen it somewhere and it was just my memory playing it back in a dream, but I love the idea of saying, “this recipe is a dream” and actually meaning it!!

I love coming up with different varieties of sushi and the following are just a few samples. Once you get the hang of making sushi, there will be no stopping you with how many flavour combinations you can come up with! While I was making the ones below, I actually started thinking about different types of fusion – why can’t we have Mexican themed sushi? Lol. Okay, I’ll have to spend more time on that one.

There are sushi making kits out there and they definitely can help you with this. I’ve made many just by hand alone. I personally prefer just using a bamboo roll up, but have tried tools like this in the past if you think using this would be more comfortable, especially for beginners!

If you are wanting to get a helpful tool but don’t want the plastic piece above, these bamboo mats are perfect (and what the restaurants use). I use these, especially for the rolls that have the rice on the outside, as it’s definitely less messy when the rice isn’t stuck to your hands!

The flavour profiles of sushi are very important. As each bite contains a mixture of ingredients, you want each bit to taste fresh and bring a party to your mouth! Teriyaki, spicy mayo, yuzu, miso and more are all traditional sushi flavours, so trying to match these the best you can if you are going for more traditional rolls. To keep things fresh tasting, you’ll want to use ingredients like mango, avocado, cucumber and green onions. To add a kick, you can whip up a quick vegan spicy mayo. To add a crunch, you can add some tempura flakes, quick fry some mushrooms, or even use some crispy onions. The combinations are endless. So without further ado, here are the few that I made recently. They do use similar ingredients, as I was just cooking for one – but I did share some of them with my neighbour – who confirmed they tasted delicious!! Enjoy!

Making the rice is an important step, because sushi rice isn’t just a boil and serve type of rice! You’ll want to make sure you actually buy sushi rice and follow the directions afterwards to elevate the flavour. Only a bit of salt, sugar and rice wine vinegar needed! I enjoy the brand below, but also found a giant bag of sushi rice at T&T Supermarket (their own brand). Calrose rice works ok if you can’t find sushi rice. Make sure when you’re putting the rice onto the seaweed sheet, you have a small bowl of water near by, so you can dip your fingers in it to avoid all the rice sticking to your hands!

You also need the seaweed! Otherwise known as nori sheets. Eating seaweed is recommended for any diet, as it is filled with so many needed nutrients! It’s got iodine, tyrosine, small amounts of vitamins A, C, E and K, along with folate, zinc, sodium, calcium and magnesium (source) as well as being high in antioxidants and fibre! You can find them in most grocery stores, but when it doubt, hit up your local Asian shops!

Okay, before you get to the recipe, I’m going to let you in on my little secret ingredient……the vegan crab! I love creating vegan alternatives using plants, but this time, in my dream, I came up with the perfect vegan hack! Gardein crab cakes!!!!!!! EEEEK brilliance! However, they are breaded and I’m currently trying my best to avoid gluten – so…..these are definitely NOT gluten free, but I did the best I could at removing the breading! I let the crab cakes thaw in the fridge during the day, then peeled off the breading and placed the ‘crab’ mixture into a bowl and mashed it up with a fork. AHHHH. It was such a brilliant idea, I’m still patting myself on the back! Check it out!

Is your mind blown???? LOL Mine is.

Here are the fresh ingredients I used: avocado, cucumber, green onions, red pepper and mango. I used Farm Boy’s vegan mayo and mixed with some Siracha (make sure you get a vegan one!). And lastly, I used cut up oyster mushrooms, dusted in cornstarch and lightly fried in canola oil. I added HOISIN sauce to the one with mushrooms to give it a different flavour – but realize that’s been left out of this recipe card!!! The rest of the ingredients and directions are below! On with the show!

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VEGAN SUSHI ROLLS!

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