Sauerkraut Sushi
Satisfying, fun and surprisingly simple, making sushi at home allows you to completely customize every roll to your taste and texture preferences. Make it as spicy, crunchy, colorful, simple or complex as you like by choosing your own fillings. We’ve included some of our favorites below, but avocado, radishes, sautéed mushrooms, cilantro, cooked or raw sushi-grade fish (make sure it’s fresh!), and tofu also make great additions.
Makes 8 rolls
Ingredients
1½ cups Classic Kraut
1 large avocado, halved, pitted, and peeled
1 tablespoon mayonnaise or cream cheese
½ to 1 teaspoon powdered wasabi
½ to 1 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari, plus extra soy sauce for serving
1 medium cucumber, peeled
½ cup Yin Yang Carrots
8 (8-by-8-inch) sheets nori
4 cups cooked brown rice
4 green onions, sliced in half lengthwise
8 to 10 asparagus spears, steamed (optional)
12 medium prawns, cooked and sliced in half down the midline (optional)
Pickled ginger, for serving (optional)
Method
To make the sauce, take the kraut out of the jar with a clean fork, letting any extra brine drain back into it. Put the kraut, avocado, mayonnaise, wasabi, and soy sauce in a blender or food processor and whirl until smooth. Set aside.
Cut the cucumber lengthwise into 8 pieces. (Slicing this and the other veggies lengthwise makes it easier to build a tidy sushi roll.)
To prepare the wraps, fill a small bowl with hot water and place it next to your work surface. Lay a sheet of nori on a flexible surface, such as a bamboo sushi rolling mat, or a tea towel lined with plastic wrap. Spread about ½ cup of the rice evenly over the nori, leaving about an inch of exposed nori on the far edge. Spread 1 to 2 teaspoons of the prepared sauce on the rice. Lay 1 cucumber piece, a few small forkfuls of carrots, ½ green onion, 1 asparagus spear, and 3 prawn halves lengthwise across the rice. Moisten the exposed nori on the far edge with a little warm water from your bowl.
Starting with the rice- and veggie-covered edge, roll the nori around the filling until the rice is enclosed and the moistened seaweed edge seals the roll. Gently squeeze the roll evenly. Unroll the nori from the bamboo roller or plastic wrap and set aside. Repeat the filling and rolling process with the remaining nori sheets.
When you’re ready to slice your rolls, dip a sharp knife in hot water (to prevent it from sticking), and slice each roll crosswise into about 8 pieces.
Serve with soy sauce and any remaining wasabi kraut sauce for dipping. Pickled ginger also makes a great accompaniment.
