Raw Vegan Sushi

I had never been a huge fan of sushi until I became vegan. Then, all of a sudden, as if on queue , my body started to enjoy the taste of sea smelling nori. Who knew? As my diet is becoming more and more raw, and for the sake of saving time on cooking brown rice for sushi rolls, I started to look for alternative. What I discovered came as a surprise to me, although I am quite sure that it is old news to many raw foodists--jicoma root, when broken down, looks like white rice.

I had made "rice" looking salads from jicoma before, but a couple of days ago, after getting home from a long day, I wanted something raw, quick and yet filling. There was not too much going on in my fridge to peak my creativity, except for a few veggies and the jicoma root. I eyed it, looked around and considered my options, and, all of a sudden an idea, as a little siren, went off in my head: Why not make raw sushi?!

Well, why not?

So, here is my latest creation. By the way, I took it to out monthly Wellness Society get-together and the people seemed to enjoy it. There were a couple of newcomers among us, one of which does not like sushi, but even he enjoyed it enough to ask for one more piece when I was wrapping up leftovers to take them home. So, Chris, if you are reading, this one is for you.

Raw Vegan Sushi
makes 18-20 pieces
Ingredients

• 3 Nori sheets
• 1/2 large jicoma root
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1-2 cucumbers, julienned
• 1 avocado, cut into thin strips
• 1 shoot of green onion, green part cut into thin long strips
• Ground ginger, just enough to taste it
• Tamari sauce
• Wasabi sauce

Preparation

• Peel jicoma root, cut into medium size junks and pulse in a food processor until looks like rice, although to smaller pieces (you should still have small fibrous junks, so don't process until the root becomes too mooshie)
• Lay out one nori sheet at a time
• Strain jicoma root from all liquid (I use a slotted spoon and push liquid out of it as much as possible). If you don't strain jicoma juice your nori rolls will fall apart in no time.
  
• Divide jicoma into 3 equal part, and spread on the nori sheet, leaving about an inch of space on the side closes to you and up to 1-2 inches on the far side of the sheet
• Take julienned vegetables, make a little groove in jicoma "rice" closer to the edge closest to you (about 2 inches from the edge), lay them in a straight line, one on top of another, smearing a bit of ginger or wasabi sauce underneath
• Roll up the sheet, wetting the far end of the roll with a little bit of water. Make sure to press down on the roll, as you are moving it forward. Once you get to the edge, go along the roll and press it until the sheet is "sealed"
• Repeat with remaining ingredients
• Cut each roll into 6-7 equal length parts and place face up on a plate (as see on the image above)
• Serve with organic Tamari sauce. Add Wasabi sauce if you want a little bit of spice.

Enjoy!

Tomorrow I will be posting a couple more raw recipes, that are delicious and absolutely nutritious too, so make sure to come back. Until then: LIVE AN UNPROCESSED LIFE!!!