Let the good times roll with this vegan sushi!

When you think of sushi, do you think it’s easy or hard to make? I can tell you before we started making it, I always thought it would be hard but, to a great surprise, it’s actually super easy! And believe me when I say it’s not only simple but super fun.

My mate and I make sushi most Sundays, for his lunch and its always super fun. Put on your favourite tracks, test your rolling skills and crown a winner at the end! (Mine are always better but shh don’t tell him, he still thinks he’s king at it).

The best thing about these roasted zucchini sushi rolls is there 100% vegan with no tofu! I don’t know about you, but vegan sushi almost always has tofu, and I’m not that much of a fan, so we mixed it up and, it was a hit. If you have an air fryer it’s even easier, just chuck the zucchini in the air fryer for 20 minutes and, you have perfect roasted zucchini.

A Brief History on Sushi…

Once we can finally travel again, Japan is one of the places at the top of my list. I can’t wait to go and try all the AMAZING food and be told by someone that I’ve been rolling my sushi wrong this whole time or hopefully they tell me I’ve been doing well.

As we can’t travel yet and I’m such a history buff I love to look up where the dishes came from and how they came to be. It’s super fascinating. On my sushi trail, I found out that sushi actually started in china WILD. They used it as a form of preserving food. They would wrap fish in rice for it to ferment and lengthen how long it would last. When it came to eating it, they would throw away the rice.

The Japanese took the concept further and ate the rice. Then some ledged came along and started seasoning the rice with rice wine vinegar. He started to sell his sushi and, BOOM now we all know and love sushi. Pretty cool ey? If you’re interested check out some more cool facts here.

Why you should make your own sushi…

Number one reason to make your own sushi is you can avoid the plastic packaging it always comes in.

Most places if you ask will put it into a paper bag or put it in your own container but avoid the hassle and make your own.

It’s a super fun activity to do with your mates, fam, hunni. Get off the couch and spend your evenings drinking, rolling sushi and having a good ole laugh.

Most of the sushi you buy is either non-vegan or, the vegan ones are most definitely tofu. Trust me this one beats any of the vegan tofu ones you’ve had.

How to Make Roasted Zucchini Sushi

How to rice..

The hardest part of making sushi is the rice. Oh my have I burnt many batches of rice in my time. I’m easily distracted and forget about it so my one tip to you is to set a timer on your phone, so you DON’T FORGET!

Apart from the forgetting thing, cooking the rice is pretty simple.

What you’ll need is 2 cups of short-grain rice or sushi rice and 4 cups of water added into a saucepan. Make sure to wash your rice.

Bring the rice up to a boil stirring regularly, when the water is boiling turn the heat down to the lowest heat put a lid on top and don’t touch for 15 minutes. Even if you are tempted do not touch that lid hunni trust the process.

When 15 minutes is passed, turn off the heat and let sit with the LID ON for another 10 minutes.

DO NOT TOUCH THAT LID.

I know you want to hunni but just leave it, it’s only 10 more minutes.

Once the 10 minutes is passed you can lift the lid, separate the rice with a fork and you should have beautiful fluffy rice.

To make the seasoning heat up 100ml of rice wine vinegar, 4 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of salt. Cook on low heat, until the sugar and salt have dissolved, pour over the rice and stir making sure all the rice is covered. Let cool.

How to roast the zucchini

To make the zucchini for the sushi, slice up your zucchini into thin strips coat in oil, soy sauce, honey, salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celcius, or cook in an air fryer for 20 minutes. They will be tender but not too soft, so they don’t fall apart when you’re making the sushi.

How to roll the sushi

Now for the fun part hunni, let’s ROLL!

You will need a sushi mat, I’m not sure how you would roll without one. They aren’t very expensive and usually if it’s your first time you can get a sushi-making kit with everything you need for the first go from your local supermarket.

To make it easy I’ve got snaps for you to see how you roll.

Step 1. Place your bamboo mat down, nori sheet glossy side down. spread out your rice and layer your filling in the middle.

Picture showing how to make vegan sushi. Place your bamboo mat down, nori sheet glossy side down. spread out your rice and layer your filling in the middle.

Step 2. Roll from the bottom about half way up and then tuck under to start the roll.

Picture showing how to roll sushi. Roll from the bottom about half way up and then tuck under to start the roll.

Step 3. Pull back the bamboo mat so you can keep rolling until you almost get to the top. wet the nori that left up the top and then finish the roll

Step 4. Once you’ve finished the roll squeeze tight to lock in that roll.

Step 5. Slice into small pieces with a clean sharp knife.

Picture showing how to slice sushi. Slice into small pieces with a clean sharp knife.

Step 6. REPEAT for the other nori sheets. You’ll be a pro by the end.

Tips and Tricks for the best sushi

  • You can mix up any ingredients, we use cucumber, carrot and capsicum but if you don’t like one skip it or you could add avocado or something like that.
  • The rice is the hardest part just trust the process and you’ll get dope rice every time.
  • Cook the rice on a medium hob, not your biggest one to avoid burning and the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan.
  • Roll the sushi rolls as tight as possible.
  • When it comes to slicing you want to use a clean sharp blade.

How to store leftovers..

Sushi is great for meal prep and to make ahead for lunches. Sushi will last for 3 days in the fridge my mate makes sushi every Sunday for his lunches and it will stay fresh for 3 days though he usually makes 4 days’ worth. You can most definitely eat vegan sushi after 4 days, but it does go a bit mushy. I would not eat sushi that is any older than 4 days old even if it is vegan.

Store your sushi in an airtight container in the fridge. We tend to have 8 pieces per container and usually make about 5 containers.

However, if you’re making sushi for dinner it’s highly unlikely you won’t have any left. This roasted zucchini sushi especially is so YUMM.

Got those lockdown blues, you could organise a sushi zoom party with your mates, or get your housemates together and transport yourself to Japan for a night.

I hope you love making this roasted zucchini sushi as much as we do. Trust me once you start rolling you’ll wonder why you never made your own sushi all this time.

Hosting a Japanese evening why not follow your sushi with a vegan katsu curry. Your Mates will love it!

As always keep on cooking, good looking.

Love Char x

Roasted Zucchini Sushi

Vegan Sushi that's not your standard tofu sushi. Refreshing, light and super easy to make. you'll love them.

Sushi Rice

  • 2 cups short grain rice
  • 4 cups water
  • 100 ml rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 4 tbsp sugar

For the roasted Zucchini

  • 1 medium zucchini
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sriracha
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • Salt & pepper

For the Sushi

  • 1 packet dried seaweed for sushi
  • 1 small carrot (sliced into strips)
  • 1 small cucumber (sliced into strips)
  • 1 small yellow capsicum (sliced into strips)

To make the rice

  1. Wash your rice and then place into a saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil and a medium hob stirring regualry. Once water is boiling turn heat down to lowest heat place lid on top and let cook for 15 minutes.

  2. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and let stand with the lid on for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes take off the lid and separate the rice with the fork. You should have fluffy rice.

  3. In a shallow pan heat up the rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt stirring until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Pour over your cooked rice and stir to make sure all the rice is covered. Let cool.

To make the Zucchini

  1. While the rice is cooking, dice up your zucchini into long thin strips. mix the soy sauce, honey, sriracha, salt and pepper together in a bowl add in the zucchini and coat evenly.

  2. Either place into your air fryer basket and cook for 20 minutes at 180°C or place on an oven tray and cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 180°C

To make the Sushi

  1. Place one sheet of seaweed down on your rolling mat making sure glossy side is facing down. check your packaging to make sure which side should be facing down.

  2. Wet your hands with some water and start to layer on your rice. it will be sticky. push the rice out to the edges leaving about a two-finger gap at the top. Layer in your fillings placing them horizontally in the middle.

  3. Begin to roll your sushi from the bottom up. Roll the sushi like you would a scroll, as you keep rolling peel the mat back towards you. Once you've rolled up to the gap at the top wet the seaweed with water and then finish the roll to seal giving it a good squeeze.

  4. Slice into 6 small pieces, make sure to use a clean sharp knife. Repeat the process for the remaining the sheets of seaweed this recipe will make roughly 8 rolls.

  5. Serve with soy sauce for dipping, wasabi and some pickled ginger.

  6. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

  • Do not take the lid of the rice for the 15 minutes of cooking and 10 minutes of resting. 
  • Mix up the zucchini with any eggplant or tofu. 
  • To make gluten-free use gluten-free soy sauce.  
  • The rolling seems hard but once you’ve done it a couple of times it will become second nature.