Best VEGETARIAN SUSHI (3 Vegetarian Sushi Rolls) with The Sushi Man

What's going on? Jun with The Sushi Man, and in this video, I'll show you some of the best vegetarian sushi rolls you can make, using simple ingredients that you can find easily at your local market. And I'll show you how to prepare each ingredient step by step, so you can mix and match them to your liking and create your own amazing vegetarian sushi roll. Alright, without further ado, let's jump right in. So first, let's go over our ingredients. As you know, with any type of sushi, the most important ingredient is the sushi rice. And I'll be making three different rolls in this video, one being a futomaki, which is a lot larger than your typical roll. So I'll be using about three cups of this. Check out my sushi rice video to learn how to make this properly. Next, we have some nori, which is dried seaweed, one full sheet, and two half sheets. Okay, then we have some English cucumber, about a four inch piece of it, one avocado, about five to six asparagus, just depends on the size, one or two green onions, takuan, which is pickled daikon radish, and you should be able to find this at most Asian markets. We'll only use about half of this four inch piece. Next, we have some dried shiitake mushrooms. Again, Asian markets will sell these, usually right by the dried seaweed section. And we're going to need about four to five. We also have a little bit of iceberg lettuce, and you can use whatever type of lettuce you prefer. And then we have some kampyo, which is dried strips of gourd that's been seasoned in a sweet soy-based sauce. You can get unseasoned kampyo, but it's quite labor-intensive to season it on your own. So if you can, find the one that's already seasoned. Asian markets will typically carry them, usually by the refrigerator section with the pickled items, and we'll only be using about one ounce of this. And then next, we have a couple pieces of inari, which is seasoned fried tofu skin. These usually come in a can or in larger packs that's in the refrigerator section, and I recommend going with these pre-made ones just for the sake of time and simplicity. It's 10 times easier. Lastly, some toasted sesame seeds and spicy mayo for toppings, and then of course wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce. Okay, the only other ingredients we need is for the liquid to braise the shiitake mushrooms. So for that, we need some sugar, soy sauce, and mirin, which is Japanese sweet rice wine. And that's all of it. Now, of course, you can add other ingredients such as carrots, beets, mangoes, other types of tofu. I mean, you can get really creative with it, so don't be afraid to try different things. You never know until you try, right? Okay, now let's move on to preparation. All right, we're going to start off preparing the shiitake since it takes the longest. So first, we're going to rehydrate these by soaking them in one cup of water for about 20 minutes. And you want to make sure that they're fully submerged, so you can use a small bowl or something like this to place it right on top to keep them down. Okay, maybe not with this bowl. There we go, much better. Okay, while these soak, let's get some of our other veggies ready. First off, asparagus. All we're doing here is cutting it down to the same length as a sheet of nori. And then we're going to blanch this in some salt water for about three to four minutes. Now, while this is cooking, prepare a bowl of ice water that's big enough for the asparagus to fit in. As soon as it's done, we're going to transfer it into the ice water so that it stops cooking. All right, now let's just cool this for about a minute or so. And then we just gently dry this with some paper towels, and it's good to go. Okay, next let's cut our cucumber. Now, I have a video that goes over different ways to cut cucumber for sushi, but there is one method that I prefer over the others, which uses a technique called katsudamuki. It is a more advanced skill, however, so if you want an easier way, then be sure to check out that video. So first we're going to peel this using our knife, all the way around so that it comes out as a long thin sheet. Watch. Okay, then we cut this into smaller sections. Now stack them on top of each other, and then we slice this down into thin strips. And done. And the reason why I like to cut it like this is because it gives just enough of that crunchiness. Thicker pieces of cucumber are overly crunchy and just kind of overpowers the texture of the roll, at least in my opinion. All right, now let's move on to our green onions. And all we're doing with this is cutting it crosswise as thin as we can. And we're only going to be using this as a topping, so I'm just going to use the green ends. But of course, you can use the whole thing if you like. All right, for the lettuce, we're simply going to shred this into thinner strips. Now let's cut the takuan. And all we want to do here is cut this into about half inch thick strips. Watch. Okay, next let's cut the inari. And all we're doing here is cutting this into thirds, the long way. Okay, now our avocado. And I have a video that goes over cutting avocado, so if you want a more detailed tutorial, be sure to check that out. So first, split it in half. And then take the side without the seed and cut it in half again. And make sure to hold on to this other half because we're going to use it later. Now we just peel the skin. And then we're going to cut this into about half inch thick slices. Just like that. Now this avocado is pretty big, so we probably don't need to cut all of this, but I'll show you one more time. Okay, and done. All right, so this shiitake took a lot longer than the ones I typically use, and it's still not fully rehydrated. But I'm on a time crunch here, so we gotta move on. So first just take these out onto a paper towel. And very important thing here, do not throw out this water. It has all that great flavor and umaminess. Umaminess? Is that even a word? Probably not. Anyways, we're going to use this as our dashi stock to braise the shiitake. So again, make sure to keep this. And now we're going to cut off the stems, which is very difficult when the shiitake hasn't been fully hydrated. So don't make the same mistake I did. Be sure to allow enough time to fully hydrate them. Okay, now we're going to strain this shiitake stock into a small pot or saucepan. And then we're going to add in the sugar, soy sauce, and mirin. Give it a nice little stir here. Then throw in the shiitake mushrooms. Now we're going to boil this on the stove over medium high heat. Once it starts to boil, then we're going to turn it down to low and let it simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes. And you can put a lid on or not. You don't really need to if the shiitake absorbed all the moisture and is fully soft. But I'm going to put one on since mine's still a bit tough. Okay, I cooked these a little longer than usual, but now we'll just take these out and let it cool. Okay, once it's cool enough to touch, then we're going to cut this into thin slices. And then now we're going to very gently squeeze this to get some of that excess juice out. And be careful not to squeeze it too tight though. We want to leave most of the moisture in there. Alright, and that's it for the prep. Now let's start rolling. So very first, make sure you have everything in place. The sushi rice, bowl of cold water or tezu, nori, our ingredients to put inside, cutting board, makisu, and a clean towel. And we're going to be using a makisu that's wrapped in plastic, which if you don't know how to do this, watch my how to roll sushi video with the link right over here. Or you can also learn how to do this by going to page 102 in my book. Wait, you don't know about my book? Well, let me just show you then. It's called How to Make Sushi at Home, A Fundamental Guide for Beginners and Beyond. If you're interested in making sushi, which obviously at this point in the video you are, then I'm sure you'll find it helpful. It's basically my 20 plus years of sushi experience simplified into an easy to follow book with step by step instructions, not to mention full color images all the way through. So whether you're a home cook taking on the challenge of sushi making or a chef in training at a sushi restaurant, this is your go-to guidebook. Links are in the description below for those that are interested. All right, back to the video. Okay, the first roll we're going to make is a futomaki or big roll, and we're going to be using the full sheet of nori for this one, which allows us to put a lot more ingredients inside. So first, make sure to have the makisu with the sticks running horizontally. And also, if your makisu has a green side to it, put that side on top rather than the tan side. The green side is flat, which makes the roll come out a little bit cleaner. All right, now grab the full sheet of nori, and with the rough side up, we place it on our makisu. But you'll notice the sheet is not a perfect square, so you want to lay this in portrait mode rather than landscape, meaning the shorter sides are going to be on the top and bottom. Now wet both hands, and then grab some rice, and start spreading it onto the nori evenly. But when you do this, make sure to leave about an inch and a half of space at the top, and also a little bit at the bottom as well. This will help the seaweed overlap onto itself and seal properly. Okay, now let's add in our fillings. For this roll, I'm going to put in some cucumber, shiitake mushrooms, avocado, takuan, some kanpyo, and a couple asparagus. All right, now from here, we're going to bring this bottom part of the nori to the top of the rice by holding and supporting the makisu with our thumbs. And we want our forefingers to hold the inside fillings in place. So bring this up and over around the ingredients while the thumbs follow and guide the makisu. Now at this point, all the fillings should be wrapped, but this top part of the nori should still be visible. From here, let's tighten the roll by pulling this top part of the makisu away from you while holding onto the roll with the other hand. This helps tighten the roll and prevent the ingredients from falling out. And then now take the bottom end of the makisu and continue rolling away from you. Now give it some even pressure from all sides, and there we go. Now as always, let's clean up the ends by aligning this edge of the makisu with the end of the roll, and then pushing in on the rice. Do it for both sides, and roll number one is done. Roll number two is going to be a basic uramaki, or inside out roll. So for this, we're going to use a half sheet of nori, and same thing, place it with the rough side up, wet both hands. Now grab a ball of rice about the size of an apple, and spread it all the way to the edges and corners. Now we're going to flip this over so that the seaweed is on top, and then I'm going to add some lettuce, avocado, and then the inari. Alright, from here it's a very similar concept to the first roll, but we're going to bring this bottom part of the nori to the top of the ingredients. And same thing, use the thumbs to hold the makisu and four fingers to hold the ingredients. And then pull the top part of the makisu to tighten the roll, and then continue rolling until the overlap is on the bottom. Give it some even pressure all around. Now we clean the ends again, and easy as that. Now off to our third and last roll. So for this last one, we're going to do the same uramaki style as our second roll, but with different fillings inside. Now I'm going to add in some cucumber, takuan, and then asparagus. Okay, now from here we're going to cut some avocado slices to layer on top. And I show you how to do this in that avocado video I mentioned earlier, but for this video I'm actually going to do it a bit different. Normally we take an entire half and cut it very thin to spread it on top of the roll. This is fine still, but the avocados that I have are pretty big, so I'm actually only going to use a quarter of one and do the same thing. So same concept, but we're going to cut this with our knife at an angle, almost flat to the board, slicing it at about an eighth of an inch thick, maybe less. And this is a little trickier than just cutting it straight down, so if you don't feel comfortable, then just use the entire half of the avocado and follow the other method. Okay, watch. Now we carefully put this on top of our roll and then spread it out evenly, and then put a sheet of plastic over it. And little tip here, make sure there's some extra plastic here at the top, about three to four inches. I'll explain why later, but this will help when we cut it. And then use the makisu to gently shape the avocado onto the roll. And there you go! Now let's get into cutting these. Now all three of these rolls are going to be cut into eight pieces, so pretty straightforward, and if you've been following my channel then I'm sure you're used to this by now. But I find the easiest way to do this, so that the pieces come out evenly, which is an important factor, is to cut it right down the center in half first, then take each half and cut it into halves again, and then each quarter into halves again. Also it's important to make sure your knife is clean and wet it a little bit right before you cut. Now this last roll with the avocado on top, it's much easier to cut with the plastic still on. When you do this though, make sure you don't cut through this top part of the plastic. And you see, as long as this part's intact, you can take this off, maybe, as one clean sheet, and not worry about little plastic pieces getting stuck to the roll. And the plastic keeps the avocado on top a little cleaner as well. All right, now we're ready to plate these. And look at that. I mean, I'm not a vegetarian, but that's a good looking plate of sushi for sure. And there's so much variety to it. Not to mention, you can add and swap any of these ingredients according to your own preference. All right, good job crew. And now that you know how to make some really good vegetarian sushi rolls, pair it with another great vegetarian dish, some spicy garlic edamame, which you can learn how to make in this video right here. Hope you enjoyed the video, and as always, feel free to leave any questions or comments below. And don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button if you want to see more of my content. I'll see you on the next one. Arigato gozaimasu!