Avocado Cucumber Salad Sushi

Ahhh sushi, all you can eat, homemade, love it! It got pretty hot pretty quickly here in NYC and the last thing I have felt like doing it cooking. Smoothies and salads are what I'm all about lately and now I'm adding sushi to the summery food mix. For this recipe, instead of making sushi with a few veggies, I made a salad and used that as the filling for the sushi. It was so delish and I know you will love this! Sushi takes a little bit of time and planning, mainly because you need to cook the rice ahead of time but my advice is to make alot of rice at once. You will need to buy sushi rice, which is stickier than regular rice, and buy sushi nori sheets, these are the seaweed wraps used for sushi. I have a sushi mat but you don't need one; instead you can use wax paper. Making sushi at home is SO EASY and it saves you money. You can make the sushi as healthy as you want while being as adventurous in the kitchen as you dare.

I was recently given a rice cooker by my friend who moved to Hong Kong; she couldn't take it with her so she gave it to me and I just love it! It has different settings for different kinds of rice and it takes all the work out of preparing rice. I just made a huge batch of brown rice last night. Having a rice cooker is not a necessity but look into it, it's so cool.

So, to prepare, make sushi rice according to the package; I usually make 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water and then you will have alot left over. Also you will need lettuce, avocado and cucumber. Let's get down to it!

Recipe:

1 ripe avocado, cut into small pieces

2 big handfuls of organic lettuce

1/2 of an organic cucumber

5-6 sushi nori sheets

The sushi rice you made

1 tbsp of olive oil

Juice from 1 lemon

Sea salt and pepper

So, once you have your sushi rice made, set it aside. Cut your avocado, cucumber and lettuce into tiny, tiny pieces then place them in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon juice and spices and mix well. You are making a savory salad as your sushi filling. Take a sheet of nori, place it on your sushi mat or wax paper and press the rice onto the nori sheet. Since the rice is sticky, wet your fingertips first. Press the rice onto the nori sheet and spread it out to the sides leaving room at the top and bottom to roll the nori sheet. Spread your salad on top of the rice, roll the sheet over, and wet the end of the nori sheet so the rolled over nori sticks. Press gently on the sushi roll and then cut into pieces with a very sharp knife. See below picture. I also have a step by step guide to making sushi in my post from December.

So, continue taking out a new nori sheet, spreading rice on top, then the salad, roll it, press gently and cut. Make as many rolls as the salad will make, I made about 5 rolls which is a ton of sushi. This recipe will feed a few people so it's great for a party or when you host a dinner.

For dipping, you can use traditional soy sauce but get organic and alcohol free. If you want to branch out, use umeboshi paste (in the asian aisle of whole foods or small health food store-it's expensive but tasty), coconut amino sauce, dijon mustard or a flavored vinegar like raspberry or vanilla vinegar.

Sushi is so summery! Practically raw, no cook (except the rice), easy, it's a great addition to your BBQ. It's great to make alot of sushi rice so you have leftover because it will be cool in your fridge. If you're not already familiar with how to make this, make it a goal this summer! 

And check below at the food labels, click on sushi and see more recipes. Click on any and all of my labels to see more summer recipes like smoothies, salads and ice cream. Happy Summer!!