As much as I adore brown rice sushi, quinoa is has become a real favourite – it’s lighter, plus it’s packed with protein & all nine essential amino acids. This recipe seasons the quinoa with tahini, fresh ginger & lemon juice, which not only helps to hold it together nicely, it also delivers a pleasing, zingy backdrop to your sushi filling. It’s unusual, but sheesh, it works. Fresh apple is my secret wow ingredient. It adds a snappy freshness to the roll, a lovely sweet-ish complement to the salty tamari & tangy ginger.
Makes 3-4 rolls
½ cup quinoa
1 ½ cups water
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
sushi fillings of your choice (in the photo, I used avocado, carrot, apple and alfalfa, but feel free to experiment with cooked green beans, tofu, tempeh sticks, cucumber, capsicum…)
nori/sheets of sushi seaweed
tamari or gf soy sauce to serve
Rinse the quinoa well. Bring the water to the boil in a medium saucepan, add the quinoa, bring it back to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat, pop the lid on the pot, and set aside for any final steaming/absorption. You’ll notice that the tiny quinoa seeds have started to unfurl & open during cooking, revealing their little white tails.
While the quinoa cools, mix together the tahini, lemon juice & grated ginger in a small bowl. Stir it through the quinoa once cooled.
Get your chosen sushi fillings prepared and have them on hand. Lay a sheet of nori/seaweed on a sushi mat, spread a layer of the seasoned quinoa over the top (leaving space top & bottom) then lay your fillings together in the middle. Use the mat to carefully roll up the nori, encasing the fillings inside, and seal the edge of the nori with a little water on your fingertips.
Either slice the sushi roll into pieces, or simply cut the roll in half, drizzle some tamari on top and eat it like a hand roll.
Any spare rolls should be wrapped in clingfilm & stored in the fridge (given the damp nature of the quinoa, the nori tends to soften up a lot, so sometimes the roll gets a tad fragile!)
Leave a Reply