Calories in Vegetarian Sushi

Sushi... I remember the first time I sank my teeth into one of these at a wine festival some months ago. The bitterness and tang of that crayfish sushi is still fresh in my mind. A lot of people feel revolted at the thought of raw seafood stuffed into a sushi, but it doesn't have to be.

If you make this at home, you can poach/steam the seafood or slightly grill it without oil, before sneaking it into a sushi roll. How about that? No one needs to sit down to a dish with food poisoning thoughts circling around their heads, when this can be made by you and enjoyed the way it should be.

Some people can stomach the fact that raw food is an inclusion when it comes to a sushi dish, where the Japanese are more than happy to down a helping of this without a second thought.

Others who have grown a liking to raw seafood will tell you that this is an absolutely delicious dish that you need to try out at least once. Not only is it healthy, but it contains hidden flavors that bring out the sushi's best.

Vegetarians who have taken another route around the issue, have opted for all-veggie based sushi eats to fill their tummies instead. This is actually a better option for those who cannot fathom the idea of eating raw meat.

Others who have grown a liking to raw seafood will tell you that this is an absolutely delicious dish that you need to try out at least once. Not only is it healthy, but it contains hidden flavors that bring out the sushi's best.

The calories in vegetarian sushi are evaluated after looking into a recipe that uses low-calorie foods to make up this lip-smacking dish. Be sure to have all your ingredients on hand before settling down to make this.

1. ¼ cup rice (fresh and not ready-made)
2. Five small single strips gherkins
3. 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (toasted, white/black)
4. 2 teaspoons Japanese soy sauce
5. A pinch of salt
6. Sushi rolling mat

7. Two tablespoons lemon juice
8. 1 tablespoon Japanese sweet rice wine
9. 1 teaspoon Japanese/sushi vinegar
10. Five thin slivers green chilies (de-seeded)
11. Wasabi paste (you can buy the ready-made version)
12. 3 nori seaweed sheets
13. 3 pieces crushed garlic cloves
14. A medium-sized crushed piece of ginger
15. 5 shaved strips of carrot

Take your quarter cup of white rice and wash it under cold water until most of the starch runs through. Once the water turns clear while washing the rice, transfer it to a saucepan waiting on a medium low flame.

Make sure the saucepan is a shallow one where you'd need to pour in enough water to cover it completely, leaving about ¾ of an inch more of water above the rice. Wait for it to bubble over, covering the pan with a lid and leaving it to simmer once the water starts to boils.

Let the water get completely absorbed by the rice, and then cover the top of the saucepan with a clean hand towel (turn the gas off at this point), before placing the lid back on. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and then empty out the saucepan's contents into a big plastic bowl.

Add in the salt, garlic, ginger, toasted sesame seeds, lemon juice, vinegar and sweet rice wine, mixing it about nicely under or close to a fan to get a good helping of well made sticky rice. Continuously mix these until the rice cools and then keep this covered and place it to one side.

Take the nori seaweed and toast it on a low flame in a non stick pan for a few seconds until it turns nice and crispy. Then take the seaweed, inverting it so that the shiny side faces downward; place this down on the sushi rolling mat.

Wetting your fingers lightly with water, take small bits of rice at a time and place it in the middle of the nori, gently spreading it down in a thin layer of about ¾ of an inch high. Leave one strip of seaweed on the other end of it, bare. Make a little shallow depression in the middle of the rice to place your cucumber and chili strips.

Make sure the cucumbers are julienned finely so that they fit into the sushi once rolled. After you place these two in the hollow portion within the rice, start rolling up your seaweed from the bare strip on your side, towards the other end.

Seal it off once you reach the end and using a sharp knife, gently snip off the extra seaweed on either side. Slightly heat the knife up before then cutting through the sushi roll to make individual bite sized pieces. Serve with the spicy wasabi sauce and revel in the different tastes that come forth when you bite into this.

Sushi is a healthy dish, though it is high in sodium - find other alternatives to use instead of the vinegar and rice wine, to make it an all healthy eat. Use vegetables that are fresh and organic in nature, and use any kind of add-on (like flavorful herbs) that you'd think would up the flavor in a different way.