Halloween typically isn't very vegan friendly - or healthy - with the abundance of sweets and chocolate, loaded with sugar, fat, salt and yes, animal products. So you may have opted for a party, to immerse you, or your kids in the Halloween experience without having to worry about what you can or can't eat. Having people round allows you to decide what foods you're going to provide and still load on the spooky foods, without all the animal products.
Party food needs to be bite sized, easily customisable for different tastes and most importantly, delicious! Sushi is a great place to start and I've included some simpler 'pumpkin' sushi (which is mainly mashed pumpkin and rice, for even the fussiest of eaters! I also made some 'eyeball' nori rolls and some spooky pink-purple rolls, filled with the veggies of your choice (I used marinated tofu, carrot, spring onion and pickled red cabbage). I also used mirin to season the rice, which is fine for adults, but for kids, you can swap this sweet Japanese wine out for some rice wine vinegar and sugar instead.
The most important thing about making sushi is that you use cooled rice, hot rice will never roll and will just become a sticky mess! There's plenty of videos online that teach you how to roll nori, so you needn't sweat it - it really is super simple! And everyone will be so impressed that you made your own sushi, no one will mind if it doesn't look Japanese restaurant standards on your first go.
Halloween Sushi | Yield: 44 Pieces | Cooking time: 25 minutes | Prep Time: 30 minutes
You'll need
- Large saucepan
- Medium saucepan
- 3 bowls
- Bamboo rolling mat
- Chopping board
- Sharp knife
- Silicone Spatula
- Spoons
- Serving boards
Ingredients
- 300g sushi rice
- 3 tbsp Mirin / 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar + 2 tsp sugar
- 4 sheets nori
- 1/2 cup pumpkin, cut in 1cm cubes
- 4 green beans
- 1/4 cup marinated tofu pieces
- 1/4 carrot
- 2 spring onions
- 1/4 cup pickled red cabbage + 3 tbsp of the vinegar
- Salt
To serve:
- Soy Sauce
- Pickled ginger
- Wasabi
- Black sesame seeds
Method
- Boil 300g dried sushi rice according to packet instructions, allow to cool and equally divide into 3 bowls.
- Boil 1/2 cup 1cm cubes of pumpkin for 20 minutes, or until tender. Then season with salt and mash.
- Boil 4 green beans for 3-5 minutes, then drain and cut each bean into 3.
'Eyeball' Sushi
- Season the 1st bowl of rice with 1 tbsp mirin and 1/4 tsp salt or 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/4 tsp salt and mix well.
- Place a nori sheet on the rolling mat and spread out an even, thin layer of rice, place roasted red peppers from a jar in the middle and roll. Repeat this for a second roll, then slice each roll into 8 equal pieces with a sharp, wet knife.
Pumpkin Sushi
- Mix the 2nd bowl of rice with the mashed pumpkin and 1 tbsp of mirin or 2 tsp rice wine vinegar.
- Divide the rice into 12 balls, then using the side of a tsp shape into a pumpkin and press a piece of green bean into the top.
'Spooky' Sushi
- Season the rice with 3 tbsp pickled red cabbage vinegar, tbsp soy sauce and 1tbsp mirin or 1 tsp sugar and mix well.
- Chop the veggies into match stick pieces. Place a nori sheet on the rolling mat and spread out an even, thin layer of rice, then place the match stick veg and tofu in the middle and roll and repeat with a second roll. Repeat this for a second roll, then slice each roll into 8 equal pieces with a sharp, wet knife.
Arrange the sushi on a sharing board, serve up and enjoy!
Cassidy xx
