This is what happened one day when we felt like making our own vegetarian sushi but were too lazy to go through the whole Japanese rice and rolls procedure. Instead we marinated tofu, boiled some brown rice, chopped our favorite vegetables, cut the seaweed into pieces and turned sushi into a salad. And what a salad! The sesame oil, rice vinegar and seaweed gave the salad that sushi feeling, although with a more nourishing twist. We quickly realized that this dish actually had made it to our top-list of favorite dinner recipes (right next to our Lasagna and Quinoa & Kale salad).
We got the inspiration for this recipe from the danish restaurant Sticks n’ Sushi (great restaurant!). They have a dish called KAOS and it literally looks like they have taken pieces of sushi, thrown them in a salad bowl and shaken it all around. Our version is a little bit more refined with marinated tofu pieces, brown rice, and vegetables instead of fish.
Vegetarian Sushi Salad
Serves 4
Make the marinated tofu 1-2 hours in advance. Since we like to keep our recipes as simple as possible we made a little extra marinade and used the left-overs as a dressing to the salad.
Marinated tofu (scroll down for recipe)
Brown rice (scroll down for recipe)
1 large broccoli, broken into 1-inch pieces
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
2 avocado, cut into cubes
12 mushrooms (shiitake or whatever you prefer), cut in quarters
1 handful sugarsnap peas, divided in half
1 handful bean sprouts
1/2 cucumber, cut into sticks
8 sheets nori seaweed, cut into 2×2-inch squares
1 handful roasted sesame seeds
1 handful cilantro
Serve with: wasabi & soy sauce
Making the salad: Blanch the broccoli (pour boiled water over it, let it set for two minutes and then throw it in ice cold water). Divide the rice into 4 large bowls and top it with all the vegetables mixed together. Drizzle the rest of the tofu marinade over the salad, top it with sesame seeds and cilantro and serve it with wasabi and soy sauce.
Marinated Tofu
300 g tofu
5 tbsp sesame oil
5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/2 red chili
2-inch (6 cm) fresh ginger, peeled and minced
Making the marinade: Try to drain the tofu from water by padding it with a towel. Cut it into 1-inch cubes. Mix the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and add the tofu. Make sure the marinade covers all of the tofu. Put in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Brown Rice
organic brown rice (for 4 persons)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
a couple of cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
Making the rice: Boil the rice according to the instructions on the package. When it’s done, stir down rice vinegar, sesame oil and cilantro.
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