Ode to the Fat Free Vegan!

When I first started on my alkaline diet I will admit I cheated often with white rice. I couldn't live without my sushi!! Avocado rolls and tempura yam rolls and shitake rolls... Drool. Well one day I stumbled upon the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Not only did an amazing amount of Susan's recipes work in my newly adopted diet... but she had a recipe for no-rice sushi! That was my happiest day on the detox!

Susan's Blog is absolutely out of this world. I have to admit... her blog is in big part the reason why I decided to start my own. But uhh... I'm not competing or anything... cause yea... she kicks major vegan butt!

Ergo I present Susan's no-rice sushi... Ben style!

As with Susan's recipe, the rice is replaced by healthy baby spinach. The sushi fillings I used are as follows;

Ginger Orange Tofu
Marinated Shitake Mushroom
Steamed Sweet Potato (cut into sticks)
Celery (cut into matchsticks)
Cucumber (cut into matchsticks)
Carrots (cut into matchsticks)

To make the Orange Ginger Tofu

1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/4 cup Orange Juice
2 tablespoons finely grated ginger
1 tablespoon low sodium tamari (or soy sauce)
1 stalk thinly sliced lemongrass (white part only)
3 slices of extra firm tofu, 1 inch thick

Mix ingredients used in marinade; oil, orange juice, ginger, tamari and lemongrass. Place in a non stick frying pan on high/medium heat. Lay the tofu on top of the marinade. Brush some of the marinade on top. Keep moving the tofu (without flipping it) every few minutes to keep it from sticking to the pan. Once the marinade starts to thicken, flip the tofu over and slide it back and forth regularly to keep it from sticking to the pan. Flip the tofu over until it has a nice golden color with a few charred marks. Set aside to cool and slice into strips.

To make the Marinated Shitake Mushroom

1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons finely grated ginger
1 teaspoon low sodium tamari (or soy sauce)
1 teaspoon barley miso (or any other dark miso)
2-3 medium shitake mushrooms

Wash and de-stem the mushrooms. Pat dry. In a small bowl, wisk together the ingredients for the marinade. Lay the mushrooms in the marinade and give them a squish every once in a while. This is a good time to matchstick the carrots, celery and cucumber. When the mushrooms have sufficiently marinated; lay them on a non stick frying pan on medium heat. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool and slice into strips.

At this point you should have a wonderful palette of veggie goodness to chose from. Time to start picking fun combinations and rolling up the sushi! These taste amazingly fresh, healthy and quite decadent!

- Ben