Spicy Not-Tuna Roll With Japanese Cucumber & Strawberry Salad

Spicy not-tuna roll.

Filling the nori with nut paste, cucumber and avocado.

Rolling with the bamboo sushi mat.

Japanese cucumber and strawberry salad.


Transition Goal For Week One: Eat One Raw Meal Per Day
Today I will introduce vegan sushi as another recipe in your raw food repertoire. You can serve this for lunch or dinner. Along with it is a pleasant Japanese cucumber and strawberry salad. You’ll need a food processor with an S blade to make the spicy nut pate and a bamboo sushi mat to roll the sushi.

Spicy Not-Tuna Roll [makes four 8 piece rolls]
3/4 cup raw organic sunflower seeds, soaked 6 hours or more
1 tablespoon Dulse flakes
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
½ medium red pepper, cut in pieces
½ teaspoon of salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon or more ground red chipotle powder, (depending on level of “heat” you desire)
1 medium avocado, sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut into strips
2 green onions, white part only, thinly sliced
4 sheets of dried Nori
½ tablespoon raw sesame seeds
Nama shoyu soy sauce, for dipping

Rinse soaked sunflower seeds and place in a food processor with the Dulse flakes, lemon juice, red bell pepper, salt and chipotle powder. Process into a paste. You will have to stop occasionally and scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl. If it seems too thick, add a little more lemon juice. In a small mixing bowl, combine the paste with the green onion. Place a sheet of Nori on a bamboo sushi mat with the precut lines arranged vertically. Put 1/4 of the nut paste across the sheet of Nori about 1 inch from the bottom. Arrange 1/4 of the avocado slices and 1/4 of the cucumber strips across the nut paste. Using the sushi mat, roll from the bottom up. After the bottom edge is over the filling, squeeze it gently with the mat and then roll to the top. Wet the top of the Nori and complete the roll. The moisture will seal it. Cut the roll with a very sharp knife into 8 pieces. Sprinkle the cut pieces with sesame seeds. This recipe makes four 8 piece rolls. Serve with Nama shoyu, which is raw, unpasteurized, soy sauce.

Per 8 piece roll: 229 calories, 18.8 g fat, 1.9 g saturated fat, zero cholesterol, 7.2 g protein, 11.1g carbohydrates and 5.9 g of fiber.

Sunflower seeds are a very good source of Vitamin E and the Dulse and Nori provide iodine. These two vitamins are moderately difficult to obtain in an exclusive raw food diet.

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Japanese Cucumber & Strawberry Salad [makes 4 servings]
1 ½ medium cucumbers, peeled and very thinly sliced
6 large fresh strawberries, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons rice vinegar or raw apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar or stevia to taste
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon raw sesame seeds

Dry the cucumber slices with a paper towel. Dissolve sugar and salt in vinegar in a bowl. Add cucumbers, strawberries and sesame seeds and combine. Serve immediately in 4 small bowls.

Per serving: 30.3 calories, 1 g fat, .3 g saturated fat, zero cholesterol, .5 g protein, 4 g carbohydrates and .3 g of fiber.