Our guest blogger, Adrienne Herr Paul, has “always” loved tofu. She shares great ideas for using it in wraps and ideas for ingredient substitutions. “The possibilities are endless and it can be really fun to experiment!”
Do we all scream for tofu yet? Oh… that’s just me?
I adore tofu, I have since I was baby and my mom gave it to me in raw cubes (yep raw) in my highchair. As I got older, my dad would fry it up with a little tamari or soy sauce and we would have tofu burritos, tacos, stir fry, or my personal favorite tofu spaghetti — although at this point, it’s all my favorite.
Now I’m having great fun with tofu sushi rolls.
This recipe came together one afternoon while cooking for my mom and a friend and it turned out really well! I started with marinating my tofu. When it comes to tofu I’m a vacuum packed, extra firm tofu kinda girl. I’m sure there are fabulous recipes you can make with the other varieties, but when eaten raw in sushi, I don’t think there’s another way to go.
The marinade is simple, consisting of tamari, rice wine vinegar, fresh ginger, and gochujaru
All four of these ingredients are so easy to substitute. If you don’t have tamari, try soy sauce, Bragges liquid aminos, or coconut aminos. If you don’t have rice wine vinegar, try a white wine vinegar or lemon juice. If you don’t have fresh ginger, try dried — but just a pinch! If you don’t like ginger you can always try garlic instead — remember that it’s raw though, so only if you like raw garlic! As for the gochujaru (a korean chili pepper), red paper flakes will do, or aleppo pepper flakes are great if you have them! The heat is pretty minimal, but if you really don’t like spice you can omit the red pepper. If you’d prefer a little more sweetness you could add some maple syrup.
The rest of the ingredients are easy to substitute as well.
If you don’t want to use carrots or don’t like avocado, maybe try some steamed broccoli or red pepper! If you don’t like tahini for the dressing, you could use another spread like vegan cream cheese or hummus. The possibilities are endless and it can be really fun to experiment!
If you’ve never prepared sushi rolls before, perfection shouldn’t be the goal!
If you’ve never used nori before, it can be a bit tricky, but perfection shouldn’t be the goal. The goal is to enjoy your food preparation and the wonderful flavors! You could also cut the nori into strips and combine all the ingredients fora “sushi roll” salad, one of my favorite ways to eat seaweed.
Veggie Tofu Sushi Rolls
Ingredients:
1 lb Extra Firm Tofu Cut into cubed strips
1 carrot, julienned
1 avocado, cut into thin strips
2 cups sprouts (radish, broccoli, etc.) or micro greens
1 tbs or more nutritional yeast
1 Package Nori Sheets
Marinade:
2 Tbs Wheat Free Tamari (you can sub bragg’s liquid aminos or regular soy sauce)
1 Tbs Rice Wine Vinegar
2 inch knob of ginger grated
1 tsp Gochujaru Chili Pepper
Tahini Dressing:
2 Tbs Tahini
1 Lemon juiced
1-2 Tbs Water, depending on desired consistency
Salt and Pepper to taste
Nutritional Yeast
Directions:
Marinade the Tofu: Cut the tofu into cubed strips and lay them in a shallow dish side by side. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together and toss them over the tofu. If it doesn’t all get covered, carefully toss a few times with the marinade and put in a cool spot for at least 30 minutes. Toss at least once halfway through to make sure the marinade really covers everything. And if you can let it sit for longer, go for it!
Veggie Prep: The carrots are best lightly steamed. Julienne the carrots (cut into thin strips) and lightly steam for 6-7 minutes then rapidly cool in an ice bath. Set aside in a colander to drain. Cut the avocado into thin strips and set aside.
Avocado Sliced
Prepare the tahini dressing: Whisk tahini, lemon juice, and water together to create a thick dressing, make sure it’s not too watery, as it will be spread on the nori sheets.
Once everything is ready you can prepare the sushi rolls!:
Lay out a nori sheet and cover half of it in a very thin layer of tahini dressing, then lightly dust with nutritional yeast.
In the middle of the nori sheet, line up 2-3 tofu strips, carrot strips, and avocado strips (option to cover veggies with some sprouts or micro greens.)
Half of your nori wrap should still be empty. From the side that’s full of veggies, start to roll the wrap up. Once you get it rolled all the way, dip your finger in a shallow dish of warm water, and wet the end of the nori sheet to get it to stick to itself.
Roll firmly and slice with sharp knife.
You can serve like traditional sushi with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger, however I think these taste great without anything added!
And that’s it! Great with a side of miso soup too 🙂
