Easy Rainbow Vegetable Sushi

Last week I mentioned that we’d finally had a go at making our own sushi, after we were challenged to find and print out some fun family friendly recipes to try as part of our HP Instant Ink review. I shared a little preview of  our rainbow sushi attempt in progress, and several of you asked how to make it so today I’m sharing my recipe for super easy rainbow vegetable sushi.

Before I go any further into this blog post I just want to make clear that I am by no means an expert on making sushi – this was in fact my first ever attempt to make my own! My method may therefore be a bit rough and ready and in all likelihood not authentic, but I wanted to show how easy it is for even a complete novice to have a go at making homemade sushi.

My boys and I really enjoy sushi (though we tend to stick to the vegetable and cooked fish varieties) so we were very excited to have a go at making it ourselves. Though the recipe I initially printed off called for mayonnaise, I decided to keep it really simple and make it plain, but I’m sure we’ll experiment with different fillings and flavours another day now that we know how easy it is to make. As my boys like sushi so much, I’ll definitely be making it to go in their lunch boxes this year, it’s such a healthy option and a great alternative to sandwiches!

I filled our sushi rolls with a rainbow of vegetables, but you can experiment and use any fillings you like. I plan on making tuna cucumber sushi for our next attempt, but the only limit is your imagination really!

Rainbow Vegetable Sushi

Ingredients:

• 250g sushi rice
• 3 tbs sushi vinegar
• 1/2 medium carrot
• 1/4 yellow pepper
• 5cm piece cucumber
• 1/2 raw beetroot
• 3 sheets nori (dried seaweed)
• Soy sauce to serve (optional)

Equipment: 

• Bamboo sushi rolling mat

Method: 

Start by cooking the sushi rice. Pop the rice into a sieve and clean thoroughly by running cold water through it until the water runs clear.

Place the rice in a saucepan with 330ml water. Cover with a tight fitting lid and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes turn the heat off and leave the pan to stand  (DO NOT remove the lid!) for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables – peel the carrot, wash the cucumber, deseed the pepper and peel the beetroot.  With a sharp knife, slice each vegetable into the smallest strips you can manage. Be sure to prepare the beetroot last so that it doesn’t colour all the other vegetables.

Once the rice is cooked through, fluff it up with a fork, then pour over the sushi vinegar and stir to combine well.

Pop the rice into a bowl to cool down.

Once cool, lay a sheet of nori on top of a bamboo sushi mat, shiny side down. Fill a clean bowl with cold water to wet your fingers before handling the rice.

With wet fingers, scoop up a 1/3 of the rice and spread over about 3/4 of the nori sheet, leaving a strip of clear nori on the end furthest away from you. Pat the rice down in an even layer, being sure to take it right to the edges.

Pile up each of the fillings in a line across the rice.

Using the bamboo mat to help you, roll the sushi up tightly, rolling it away from yourself towards the strip of clear nori.

Once the all of the rice is in the roll, brush some water along the nori strip and finish rolling it up, gently pressing down as you do so to seal the edges.

Repeat with the rest of the rice, nori and seaweed until you have three rolls of sushi.

Take the sharpest knife you own, dip it in the water and use it to cut the sushi into pieces.

Serve  with soy sauce for dipping and enjoy!

NOTES: As this recipe make 3 rolls of sushi, you might want to try varying the fillings in each of them – a great chance to experiment!
To make the sushi more rainbow, I would add red pepper to the ingredients next time, as well as the yellow, for an extra burst of rainbow colour.

I found everything I needed to make sushi in my local supermarket (Sainsburys), including the bamboo rolling mat. You can also find easy to use children’s chopsticks in the Eats Amazing Shop, my boys love eating their sushi with chopsticks!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like my rice panda and rice penguin tutorials – which both include videos so that you can see how easy they are to make! Like the sushi above, they are much easier to make than you might think at first glance, and never fail to impress family and friends!

Have you ever made your own sushi? What are your favourite fillings?

Grace

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Rainbow Vegetable Sushi

Gorgeous easy homemade rainbow sushi recipe - simple vegetarian sushi idea - perfect for lunch boxes.

Course: Lunch

Author: Grace

Ingredients

• 250 g sushi rice
• 3 tbs sushi vinegar
• 1/2 medium carrot
• 1/4 yellow pepper
• 5 cm piece cucumber
• 1/2 raw beetroot
• 3 sheets nori (dried seaweed)
• Soy sauce to serve (optional)

Instructions

1. Start by cooking the sushi rice. Pop the rice into a sieve and clean thoroughly by running cold water through it until the water runs clear.
2. Place the rice in a saucepan with 330ml water. Cover with a tight fitting lid and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes turn the heat off and leave the pan to stand  (DO NOT remove the lid!) for 25-30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables - peel the carrot, wash the cucumber, deseed the pepper and peel the beetroot.  With a sharp knife, slice each vegetable into the smallest strips you can manage. Be sure to prepare the beetroot last so that it doesn't colour all the other vegetables.
4. Once the rice is cooked through, fluff it up with a fork, then pour over the sushi vinegar and stir to combine well.
5. Pop the rice into a bowl to cool down.
6. Once cool, lay a sheet of nori on top of a bamboo sushi mat, shiny side down. Fill a clean bowl with cold water to wet your fingers before handling the rice.
7. With wet fingers, scoop up a 1/3 of the rice and spread over about 3/4 of the nori sheet, leaving a strip of clear nori on the end furthest away from you. Pat the rice down in an even layer, being sure to take it right to the edges.
8. Pile up each of the fillings in a line across the rice.
9. Using the bamboo mat to help you, roll the sushi up tightly, rolling it away from yourself towards the strip of clear nori.
10. Once the all of the rice is in the roll, brush some water along the nori strip and finish rolling it up, gently pressing down as you do so to seal the edges.
11. Repeat with the rest of the rice, nori and seaweed until you have three rolls of sushi.
12. Take the sharpest knife you own, dip it in the water and use it to cut the sushi into pieces.

13. Serve  with soy sauce for dipping. 

Recipe Notes

NOTES: As this recipe make 3 rolls of sushi, you might want to try varying the fillings in each of them - a great chance to experiment! To make the sushi more rainbow, I would add red pepper to the ingredients next time, as well as the yellow, for an extra burst of rainbow colour.

I hope you will want to try this delicious recipe, please pin it if you do! For more healthy rainbow food ideas and recipes, check out the rainbow food ideas section here on the Eats Amazing blog or follow my Rainbow Food Pinterest board for fun rainbow ideas from all over the web!