Who loves sushi?! I sure do! But traditional sushi is made with ingredients like soy, gluten, MSG, and sugars that I just don't include in my daily intake anymore. So what's a girl to do? Why recreate it to be clean, healthy, and gluten free!
I’m calling this a "date night (or day date like ours was) recipe" because it is time consuming! But, so fun if you do it together and SOOOOO worth the extra time it takes to make these!
For some of the sushi pictured I made rolls filled with tuna and I cannot take credit for that part of the food I used in the photos for this recipe! For the tuna recipe, I used the “Slow Poached Magic Tuna” from the Nom Nom Paleo cookbook. If you don’t have Michelle Tam’s cookbook yet, get on it because it’s an amazing cookbook with tons of unique recipes I’ve never seen in a paleo cookbook before.
But really, you can use any filling your heart desires! We made a few different rolls for this day time lunch date :o)
The following recipe encompasses one of the rolls, but please have fun making this your own!
This recipe is nutrient dense, gluten free, grain free, primal and can be made Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) friendly, paleo, dairy free, and even Keto friendly!
What Makes this High-Vibing Food?
First and foremost, putting your own love, gratitude, time and energy into making foods at home will automatically raise the vibration of the foods/meal. This will also help to balance your sacral and heart chakras. Putting your love into the food you prepare will literally raise the vibrational frequency as love is the highest vibration out there!
You are what you eat and what your food eats. Using organic, GMO free, free/pasture raised, wild caught, minimally processed ingredients lead to an overall higher vibrational frequency. Basically, eating organic provides us extra energy currency!
This dish is rich in protein, which is grounding and protective. It also supports the root chakra.
Contains zinc, which is needed for thousands of chemical reactions in your body involving protein, so it is also supportive to the root chakra.
This recipe is full of healthy fats and oils, which supports the sacral chakra.
This recipe is high in fiber, which supports all three of the lower chakras as it aides in the movement and flow of bulk during the digestive processes.
Contains cruciferous veggies, which are especially balancing to the heart chakra.
Contains raw veggies, which are especially balancing to the heart chakra as they contain balancing cooling properties.
Contains green colored foods, which support and balance the heart chakra.
This recipe contains sea plants, linking the earth and water elements, which in turn nourishes the root, sacral & throat chakras.
A Short Note on Swaps or Ingredients:
*While I cannot guarantee that using these swaps will yield the same flavors I have create in this recipe, these swaps should generally work well! *
Be sure your coconut milk is full fat and unsweetened. For the strict phase of the AIP, be sure there are no added gums (the only ingredients should be coconut/coconut meat and water).
Equipment Needed to Create this Recipe:
big soup pot
mixing bowl
bamboo mat (also called a nori mat)
plastic wrap (optional- helps prevent sticking)
a good knife
measuring cups/spoons
Date Night Sushi
(gluten free with paleo, dairy free & AIP friendly options!)
Prep time: 1-1.5 hours Cook time: 30-40 minutes Yield: 4-6 rolls
Ingredients:
Sushi “Rice” (this recipe is AIP Friendly as is)
1 medium head of cauliflower, around 4 cups of cauli-rice (or 1, 1 lb. bag of pre-riced cauliflower)
2/3 cup coconut milk, full fat, unsweetened
2 tbsp. coconut oil
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. bacon fat
2 tsp. Vital Proteins beef gelatin
1 tsp. Himalayan sea salt
Wild Caught Crab Salad Filling
6 oz. wild caught crab meat
1/8 cup paleo approved mayo, I used Primal Kitchen (omit for AIP. Instead, use CoYo plain coconut yogurt sprinkled with some garlic granules & a splash of coconut aminos)
1 tsp.-1 tbsp. organic sriracha, depending on level of spice you want (omit for AIP. Alternatively, you can use minced or mashed raw garlic, as it has a very peppery taste to it.)
4-6 organic nori papers
Additional Add In’s or Substitutions (you can totally be creative here!)
avocado, sliced
coconut aminos
cream cheese (omit for AIP)
cucumber, thinly sliced
fruit: pineapple, mango, or pear slices
ginger, pickled or raw
green onions
grilled asparagus
jalapeños, sliced (omit for AIP)
radishes
salmon, cooked or smoked
sesame seeds (omit for AIP)
shrimp, cooked
tuna, raw (sushi grade) or cooked
wasabi (check ingredients for AIP friendly version)
How to Create this Recipe:
Cauli-Sushi "Rice"
First, you’ll need to make your cauli-sushi-rice. To save time, buy pre-riced cauliflower. But if you’re daring and have the time, rice your cauliflower in a food processor, with a cheese grater, in a Vitamix, or another professional grade blender.
Once your cauliflower is riced, it’s time to cook it up a bit! In a big pot or large wok, heat the coconut oil and bacon fat on high heat. When the oil has melted, turn the heat down to medium and add in the cauliflower you riced. Sauté this for 3 minutes while almost constantly stirring it. After the 3 minutes have passed, add in the apple cider vinegar, salt, and gelatin, sprinkling the gelatin evenly over the cauli rice. The gelatin may clump a bit at first; however, if you continue stirring it, it will incorporate into the cauli rice eventually. After this, you’ll add in the coconut milk. Once you add the coconut milk, continuously stir the liquid until it comes to a slight boil.
Continue to stir the cauli rice mixture until almost all the coconut milk has been absorbed and/or cooked off. Make sure to continuously stir it so that the rice doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan!
To finish, in the same big pot (or a different large bowl) squish all of the cauli rice down into as thin of a layer as you can. This will allow the cauli rice to cool much more quickly. Then, place this in the freezer to cool down while you finish the rest of the recipe.
* NOTES:
I heat my coconut milk up first so that the coconut cream and coconut liquid become incorporated for a uniformed creaminess.
If you can still see liquid pooling when waiting for the coconut milk to be absorbed, it’s NOT ready. This can take a bit of time so be patient and wait until all the liquid has gone. You’ll know that it is done when you can view the bottom of the pot/wok when you burrow a hole in the cauli rice and there is no longer any liquid.*
If you have lots of time, you can leave the cauli rice out to cool down, or place it in the fridge to cool down. The cooler the rice gets, the sticker and more like sushi “rice” it becomes.
Crab Salad Filling:
While the cauli-rice cools, slice all the veggie fillings your heart desires.
Then you’ll need to make the crab salad filling. This is so, so easy! Open your crab meat and dump it into a medium bowl; drain if necessary. Add the mayo (or CoYo) and the amount of sriracha (or alternative for AIP) your heart desires. Stir till it’s all incorporated. Done!
Putting together your rolls:
Now it’s time to make your sushi rolls! Start by getting your nori mat. You'll be covering your nori mat in plastic wrap. This will prevent sticking. Once you’ve done that, place a nori sheet on the mat, shiny side down.
Wet the nori sheet with a damp paper towel, just slightly, do NOT soak it.
Place a layer of cauli rice on the nori sheet, spreading it out into a thin layer. Leave the edges, about 1/2 inch free of cauli rice.
Then, layer any of the additional add-in’s that your heart desires! You'll want to do this along the bottom horizontally.
Next, you’ll roll it up! This can be a bit tricky, rolling the sushi; but I highly suggest YouTubing this if you’re a newbie! After you roll it up, you'll slice it into slices that are about 1.5 inches thick.
That’s it! I hope you enjoy! Cheers to the best date nights and days ever!!
* NOTES:
Wetting the nori sheet lightly makes the sheet more pliable and less likely to crack or break when rolling.
I like to start in the middle and work my way out while cutting the sushi roll. This leaves me with more even and clean cuts.
The filling options on this sushi recipe are endless! Make sure you are getting sushi grade fish, if you chose to do any raw fish sushi. Sustainably caught & harvested, wild caught fish is best :o)
NUTRITION
Serving Size: 1 (based off of 6 servings total)
Calories: 221
Fat: 16 g
Carbs: 3 g
Protein: 10 g
*All nutritional information are estimations and will vary.