Beet Nigiri Sushi

This recipe looks deceptively simple, but it does require some knife skills. You have to be able to gently slice your cooked beets into very thin rectangular strips. The thin slice is key for allowing the marinade to sufficiently do the job, but it’s also essential for balancing the beet slice on top of the bite-size mound of rice. If you’re comfortable with a knife and/or maybe a few raggedy slices while you figure out how to get it right (unless that’s just me 😉), then this will be the vegan beet nigiri sushi recipe for you!

So what is nigiri sushi? It’s a mound of seasoned rice with a thinly sliced topping, usually raw fish. The Japanese word “Nigirizushi” means “hand-pressed sushi” in English. By and large, this type of sushi does not involve seaweed. So, if you’re looking for a nori free vegan sushi, look no further!

This recipe makes ~28 pieces of beet nigiri sushi.

A few things…

• For this sushi recipe, you can either cook fresh beets or use prepackaged plain cooked beets, like Melissa’s or Love Beets. I provide directions for baking the beets, but if you like to steam them, feel free to go that route.

• If you use fresh beets, it’s going to be easier to make them into 2.5″ x 1″ rectangular strips. The prepackaged store bought ones tend to be on the smaller size, so they may not be able to be sliced into that shape. As an alternative, you could just slice them into thin circles and layer them (slightly overlapping) on top of the mound of rice. Or come up with your own design.

• Instead of painstakingly scrubbing away every last bit of dirt, I like to peel my fresh beets and rinse them. If you like scrubbing and prefer not to peel, that’s fine too.

• When shaping the sushi rice into mounds, I find that wetting my hands just a little bit makes a big difference. It keeps the rice from sticking to my hands and allows it to just stick to itself.

• As you slice up the cooked beets, you may have some oddly shaped trimmings. Use them anyway in the sushi because weird is fun, make them the filling in maki sushi (take a peek at this recipe’s directions for a quick how-to), or save them up to enjoy on a salad. Decide what works best for you!

• Cooked beets bleed magenta everywhere. If you want your nigiri sushi to look pristine, you’re going to need to gingerly place the beet on top of the rice. If you move it around on the rice, and that rice is gonna turn all kinds of magenta.

• If you have any leftovers, store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator. I enjoyed mine within 2 days, but always use your best judgment with leftovers.

Please enjoy! And don’t miss other UVK recipes, like Shiitake Mushroom Sushi Rolls, Roasted Fennel and Beets, Beet Potato Salad with Sauerkraut and so many more.

Beet Nigiri Sushi

1-2 medium fresh beets (OR use prepackaged cooked plain beets – see notes above)

1 batch of sushi rice

2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce (OR reduced sodium gluten free tamari)

2 scallions, thinly sliced

½ tsp freshly grated ginger

1 tsp sesame oil

⅛ tsp wasabi paste

1. If using fresh raw beets for the sushi, preheat the oven to 400º F. Then, peel, remove the roots, rinse the beet thoroughly, and wrap them in aluminum foil. Place them in a loaf pan. Bake at 400º F for ~1 hour or until fully cooked through. Remove from the oven. Allow them to cool until safe enough to handle. If you are using store bought cooked beets, you can skip this step.

2. While the beets bake, follow this recipe to make a batch of sushi rice.

3. After you finish making the sushi rice and it’s cooling, you’ll mix together the ingredients for the beet marinade. In a 7″ x 11″ glass pan (or something close to that), stir together the soy sauce, scallions, fresh grated ginger, sesame oil and wasabi paste. Set aside.

4. When the beets are cool enough to handle (or you’re using prepackaged beets), trim away the rounded edges. Then, slice the beets into very thin rectangular strips (see notes above). Add the slices to the marinade in a single layer. Cover and refrigerate for, at least, 20 minutes.

5. When the sushi rice is cool enough to safely handle, you can start working on shaping the rice. Add ~1 Tbsp sushi rice to the palm of your hand. Shape into a log of tightly compacted rice that’s ~2″ long, rounded on top, but flat on the bottom. Put it on a plate. Repeat this process until all the rice mounds have been made.

6. Remove the marinated beets from the refrigerator. Very carefully top each mound of rice with some scallions from the marinade and then, a sliced beet on top of that.

7. Top each piece with additional scallions. Serve with soy sauce on the side for dipping. Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator.