Vegan sushi bowl

This 'sushi bowl' has been my go-to lunch for quite a while now. You can use any veggies that you like and have at hand. I prefer to eat the veggies raw as much as possible but steamed or roasted veggies are equally delicious! Below you have an idea of what I like to add in my bowl but feel free to improvise! You can use rice, quinoa or even cauliflower rice or other grains that you prefer. Add in wasabi and pickled ginger or even hot peppers if you like. My prefered dressing for this recipe would be the peanut butter sauce but tahini works very well and sometimes I combine the two! 

Ingredients (serves 4)

- 1 cup rice, rinsed 

- 1 avocado, sliced

- 2 radishes, thinly sliced

- 1 yellow (or any other color) pepper, thinly sliced

- 2 small cucumbers or 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced

- 2 mushrooms, thinly sliced

- 1 thin carrot, shaved using a vegetable peeler

- a small piece of red/white cabbage, thinly sliced

- a handful cilantro/parsley/spinach, chopped

- tofu slices (optional)

- nori sheets

- 1 Tablespoon hemp seeds

- 1 Tablespoon chia seeds

- 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds

- peanut butter sauce (recipe below)

- tahini sauce (recipe below)

Place the rice in a saucepan, add in 2 cups of water, stir and bring to the boil. Stir again, lower the heat to minimum and cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes (depending on the type of rice used) or until rice is tender and water is absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Distribute the rice between the bowls, add your favourite veggies, herbs, nori and seeds and top with the sauce of your choice. Enjoy!

Peanut butter sauce

- 5 Tablespoons peanut butter

- 3-4 Tablespoons Tamari

- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil (optional)

- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup/honey

- 1 teaspoon sriracha (or more, to taste)

- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar

- 1 teaspoon grated ginger

- 1 garlic clove, mashed

To prepare the sauce, mix the peanut butter with the tamari, then add in the maple syrup or honey, sriracha and sesame oil and mix well. Add the rice vinegar, garlic and ginger and mix until you obtain a homogenous consistency.

Tahini (tarator) sauce

 - about 1/2 cup tahini (ground sesame paste)

 - 1 lemon, juiced 
 - 2-3 garlic cloves, mashed
 - a few tablespoons of water
 - a handful of freshly chopped parsley (or 1 Tablespoon of dried parsley)  

Prepare the tarator sauce by combining the tahini with the lemon juice and stirring until it becomes homogeneous. Add one tablespoon of water at a time until you reach the desired consistency then add the mashed garlic, salt and parsley.