Deconstructed Sushi Salad

Sushi is quite possibly one of the greatest dishes in the world. Whether it’s vegan or with seafood, sushi tastes so good. However, sushi is very expensive, and not that filling. Sushi can rack up a food bill upwards of $50.00 for two people, and that’s just for the sushi alone. Making your own sushi is also quite time consuming and cumbersome. It’s fun, but still cumbersome. So, I came up with my own deconstructed sushi recipe that requires very little prep time, lots of food, and very little money spent.

This recipe is full of extra protein thanks to the substitution of quinoa for the rice which along with the addition of protein adds extra fiber, iron, zinc and amino acids. This salad tastes just like a sushi roll too, as it has all the ingredients of sushi, including the nori sushi wraps and rice wine vinegar, a staple when making sushi rice. The recipe doesn’t have to be vegan either. You can add in any fish you desire to this dish.

So…let us begin!

You will need:

2 cups quinoa
4 cups water
1 cup chopped chives (about 1 bulk chives)
1 cup chopped cucumber (about 1 large cucumber)
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup cut sushi wrap papers (about 10 – 12 sheets)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/4 cup picked sushi ginger (gari)
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 avocado

Step 1:

First, you want to cook the quinoa. This simple as it is the same method you use for rice. Put the quinoa in a large pot, and add the 4 cups water. Start cooking on high, and once the water comes to a boil, bring down the temperature to medium heat until the quinoa is cooked. You will know the quinoa is done when all the water is gone.

The quinoa should look like this when finished cooking

Step 2:

As the quinoa is cooking, you want to start chopping all your vegetables. Make sure they are in small pieces that will easily mix into the quinoa. For the nori sushi sheets, use scissors to slice the sushi wrap papers lengthwise, then cut those in half again:

Once you begin slicing, start filling out your 1 cup measurement. The slices should be about 2 inches long:

You also want to grate the carrots and the ginger, as pictures above on the bottom right of the photo.

All the vegetable sushi ingredients, minus the celery

Step 3:

By this time, the quinoa should be done. Remove from heat, and put the quinoa in a large mixing bowl to cool. Make sure it is cooled down enough before adding the ingredients in. Once the quinoa is cooled, add all the ingredients in, minus the avocado

To add the avocado, slice the fruit in half, then slice lengthwise along the meat, and then across, to form little cubes:

Next, turn the peel inside out, and the little cubes will fall out easily into the bowl

Ta daaa! Easy!

Step 4:

Once everything is in the bowl, mix thoroughly. Once you have mixed in the veggies, add the tamari and rice wine vinegar, mixing thoroughly again. NOTE: If you are wary about a strong ginger taste, start with half a teaspoon grated ginger first. If you still want more flavor, add in the rest after tasting.

Once everything is mixed, your deconstructed sushi salad should look something like this

Step 5:

Well, that’s pretty much it! All that’s left to do is is plate your deconstructed sushi salad!

Take a large ladle-full and put on a plate. Add a side of avocado and pickled sushi ginger. The idea is to eat it all together as you would regular sushi. Eating with the ginger really brings this dish all together. You seriously will have no idea you aren’t actually eating sushi rolls!