Sweet Potato Sushi Rolls with wild rice and cinnamon

What is your favorite kind of veggie sushi? I recently asked this question in a veggie discussion forum and discovered one of my favorites is universally popular. A number of folks named sweet potato sushi.

However, things got interesting when someone commented, “I am from Japan, and I have never seen any sushi with sweet potato!”

One forum member was kind enough to share a photo of sweet potato sushi and another sheepishly admitted, “We Americans will put anything in sushi.”

Our friend from Japan responded, “Ha ha, thank you for sharing the photo! I just showed it to my mother. I wish I could have shown you guys her ‘whoa’ face!”

Sweet Potato Sushi Rolls

Since sweet potato sushi is obviously an Americanized version of the cuisine, why not take things a few steps further? I decided to replace the sushi rice with a wild rice mix. I thought the chewy texture would combine nicely with the creamy sweet potato – I wasn’t disappointed!

I buy my wild brown rice mix from the bulk section of our local health food store. If you don’t have that option, Lundberg Wild Blend appears to be very similar. I added a little extra cooking water to make the rice stickier.

Avocado, sliced almonds and a touch of cinnamon further enhance the flavor and texture of these sweet potato sushi rolls. Yes, cinnamon. It’s true; we Americans will put anything in sushi! The results:

• Creamy
• Chewy
• Crunchy
• Tasty
• Goodness

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Sweet Potato Sushi Rolls with wild rice and cinnamon

Wild rice, avocado, sliced almonds and a touch of cinnamon enhance the flavor and texture of these delicious vegan, gluten free sweet potato sushi rolls.

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 3 -4

Ingredients

• 6 nori sheets See my Veggie Quinoa Sushi Rolls recipe for more information about nori.
• 2 cups wild rice mix uncooked
• 5 cups water
• 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 sweet potatoes medium, baked
• 1 avocado peeled, pitted, diced
• ¼ cup sliced almonds
• reduced sodium tamari sauce to taste

Instructions

• If sweet potatoes have not been prepared ahead of time, prick tops with fork and bake in oven at 400 degrees for approximately 45 minutes. (I use my toaster oven with the convection setting selected. If you are using a traditional oven, the potatoes may require additional baking time.) Set aside to cool when done.
• Rinse wild rice mix, drain and place in rice cooker.
• Add 5 cups of water and cook on brown rice setting.
• Transfer cooked rice to a mixing bowl and stir in vinegar, maple syrup and cinnamon until well mixed.
• Allow rice mixture to cool while you peel and slice sweet potatoes and avocado into thin strips lengthwise.
• Place a nori sheet on a bamboo mat and place about 9 spoonfuls of rice in 3 rows on the nori. (The sticky rice will be easier to spread in small spoonfuls.)
  
• Wet the tips of your fingers (you may wish to have a bowl of cool water nearby for this purpose) and press/spread the rice into a thin layer – working towards the edges of the sheet, leaving about an inch of sheet remaining on the edge farthest from you.
  
• Place a row of sliced sweet potato and inch or so from the edge closest to you.
  
• Top with thin rows of avocado and sliced almonds.
• Use bamboo mat to roll the sushi roll. (Watch a video.)
• Set sushi roll aside and repeat with remaining ingredients.
• Once all ingredients are used, slice the sushi rolls into evenly sized pieces and serve with reduced sodium tamari sauce.

Notes

Recipe makes approximately 6 sushi rolls.

 Note: I do not include nutrition information with my recipes because I subscribe to the theories presented in the book Whole and believe we should focus on eating a variety of whole foods instead of counting calories or keeping track of individual nutrients.

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