Japanese is hands down one of my all time favourite cuisines. Having recently moved house, we have noticed that our area (although packed with great cafes and restaurants) is a bit lacking in good asian food. So we decided to take matters into our own hands and have Japanese nights at home!
We love serving our quinoa sushi as a starter, followed by salmon. As a vegetarian option we like to make miso-eggplant, which is also great!
At first, we were a little daunted by the idea of making quinoa sushi. We had all kinds of scenarios in our heads of how it was going to turn out! But it was actually much easier than we thought. We have noticed, however, that it becomes a little bit better each time we make it so it is really just a question of practice.
We have had a few questions about what we do to make the quinoa stick while rolling the sushi. We find that by adding sushi vinegar, tamari and raw honey to the quinoa whilst it is cooking not only adds flavour, but also makes the rolling process a lot easier. It is also important to ensure quinoa is properly cooked.
Makes 3 sushi rolls
Ingredients
3/4 cup white quinoa
1 tbsp sushi vinegar
1/2 tbsp tamari sauce (+ extra to serve)
2 tsp raw honey
Choice of fillings (we use 1/2 avocado and 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced)
3 organic toasted sushi nori sheets
Sesame seeds
Method
- Cook quinoa, as per instructions of your chosen brand.
- Combine sushi vinegar, tamari and raw honey in a small bowl and mix together.
- Whilst the quinoa is cooking, add in the tamari sauce mixture and mix through the quinoa.
- Place nori sheet on a flat surface (or preferably, a rolling sheet) and make sure you place it shiny side down.
- Evenly (and thinly) spread the the quinoa over 3/4 of the surface (leave 1/4 furthestaway from you).
- In the middle of the spread quinoa, add your fillings.
- Gently lift the edges of the nori sheet closest to you and begin to roll it inwards towards the other side.
- Once rolled, moisten the ends with water to seal.
- Using a very sharp knife, cut into small pieces (we find it easiest to make the slices quite thick).
- Repeat this process for all sushi rolls.
- Serve with extra tamari sauce, freshly grated ginger, fresh chilli and/or wasabi.
Avocado is a daily staple for us. If the great taste isn’t enough for you, here are some more reasons to add avocado into your diet!
Once maligned as a high fat food to be avoided, avocadoes are now widely appreciated for their nutrient density and their inherent fats are known for their health benefits. We consider avocadoes to be a delicious superfood package and for us, they are a daily staple.
Avocadoes are a rich source of a wide range of anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory carotenoids, including lutein and zeaxanthin, promoting eye health and helping to prevent macular degeneration. Further, more recent research has demonstrated that consumption of avocadoes with other foods high in antioxidant carotenoids, such as lycopene and beta-carotene (an example would be tomatoes) greatly increases the absorption of these nutrients.
In addition, avocadoes are very low on glycaemic index and high in fibre, making them a good choice for blood sugar regulation.
Other nutrients include Vitamins B5, B6, C and K, minerals zinc, potassium, magnesium and copper, as well as a number of amino acids. As always, choose organic where possible and consume when just ripe for maximum nutritional benefits.
