Vegetable Sushi Salad Bowl

I’m a fan of vegetable sushi, but not of making it at home (quite a project and a bit of a mess!), so when I crave it, I go out for some. The supermarket sells veggie sushi that’s quite acceptable, too. But I love the idea of the great flavors of sushi as a cold dish — let’s call it a vegetable sushi salad bowl, though it doesn’t fit neatly into the definition of salad, or a neatly arranged bowl.

I’ve seen a number of rendition of this fun idea on blogs; though I love the way it looks as a nicely arranged bowl with the veggies topping the rice, my attempts at this presentation fell short. Plus, I wanted more of a blending of flavors, reminiscent of  biting into a piece of sushi roll. Mixing everything in with the rice is not only easier, but gave me that all-in-one flavor burst I was looking for.

For the nori, I recommend nori snacks rather than full sheets of nori, simply because they’re easier to deal with, nicely seasoned, and somewhat crisp. Pictured below the recipe box are a couple of the brands I get at my local natural foods store (this is for reference, and not a sponsored post!) — Annie Chun’s and Sea Tangle Snacks.

In addition to the optional scallion and/or sesame seeds, you can also consider serving this dish with pickled ginger and/or wasabi.

Yield: 4 to 6

Vegetable Sushi Salad Bowl

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The great flavors of sushi are transformed into a cold dish — let’s call it a vegetable sushi salad bowl, even though it doesn’t fit neatly into the definition of salad, or an arranged bowl.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the rice

• 3 1/2 to 4 cups cooked rice (see Note), at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sesame-ginger dressing, bottled or homemade

The rest

• 1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled, and diced
• 1 cup grated carrot or baby carrots, quartered lengthwise
• 1/2 medium cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced
• 4 sheets nori snacks, plus more for topping as desired

Optional

• Thinly sliced scallion
• Sesame seeds

Instructions

1. In a medium serving bowl, combine the rice with the sesame-ginger dressing and stir together. Let it stand for 5 minutes or so.
2. Gently stir the avocado, carrot, cucumber, and into the rice. Taste to see if you’d like to add a bit more dressing for moisture and flavor.
3. Cut 4 nori snacks into short, narrow strips, and stir them in with the rice and veggies. Cut up 4 or more to pass around.
4. Stir any or all of the optional additions into the rice, or use them as garnish. Serve at once. Pass around the extra nori for topping individual servings.

Notes

For these photos, I used a combination of white rice and red quinoa, which cook together and have the same cooking time, but use any rice you prefer — long or medium-grain brown, Basmati, Jasmine, etc. It's good to have the rice cooked ahead of time for this recipe. If you have cold rice in the fridge, bring it to room temperature for this dish.

Variations: Substitute other vegetables for the ones listed here. Think of some that you might come across in other vegetable sushi combos, like thinly sliced radish or turnip, sliced shiitake mushrooms, tender-crisp asparagus, or barely-cooked sweet potato.

Here are two brands of seaweed snacks; both are great for this recipe:

Annie Chun’s — this brand comes in several flavors

Sea Tangle Snacks — another good choice

• See more easy vegan recipes and salads & side dishes