Biting into cooked amaranth tastes and feels very much like tobiko, or flying fish roe, which I used to eat a lot of at sushi restaurants several years ago. Making your own faux-roe out of this tiny, super-soft and silky pseudograin requires only a few ingredients and a little bit of time and effort to achieve. To develop its color, I boiled the amaranth in a super-concentrated beet base, and then soaked it further, which resulted in a perfect batch of deep crimson tobiko.
I then prepared the vegan tobiko in the way I used to enjoy it: gunkanmaki-style. This method requires no mat or rolling, and is very simple to assemble. The beets give the faux-roe a subtle sweetness which perfectly compliments the saltiness of soy sauce, the tartness of the vinegar in the rice and the briny, fishy taste of the roasted nori. Serve with a small bowl of pickled daikon on the side for a delicious, elegant, balanced and visually stunning sushi dish.
AMARANTH CAVIAR FOR SUSHI
Yield 4 servings
Ingredients
for the faux-roe
- 3 medium-sized beets, finely diced
- 4 cups water OR one bottle of prepared beet juice, unsweetened, like Biotta
- 3/4 cup amaranth grain, rinsed
for the sushi
- 1 cup sushi rice, soaked for 30 minutes then rinsed well
- 2 cups water
- 1 TB rice vinegar
- 1 TB sugar
- 1/2 TB salt
- nori sheets
for the pickled daikon
- 1/2 cup raw daikon, finely diced
- 1 tsp black sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
Instructions
- If you are using prepared beet juice, skip to Step #2. If you are using fresh beets, place them with the water into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mash the beets with a potato masher, then strain. Reserve the beet pieces for pickling or roasting later.
- Bring the beet juice to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add in the amaranth and whisk well. Boil, uncovered for about 20 minutes, whisking occasionally to ensure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. (The amaranth should be slightly al dente—do not overcook.) Then, place the cooked amaranth with any leftover liquid into the refrigerator to cool and soak.
- When you are ready to prepare the gunkanmaki, place the rice and water into a rice cooker. While it cooks and steams, combine the sugar, vinegar and salt in a separate glass bowl. Set aside.
- Cut the nori sheets into 1 to 1 1/2 inch ribbons. Set aside. Toss all of the pickled daikon ingredients together and place into the refrigerator to chill.
- Place a small strainer over a bowl. Take the faux-roe out of the refrigerator and spoon some of it into the strainer so it can drain slightly.
- When your rice is ready, place it into the glass bowl and stir well.
- To assemble the gunkanmaki, keep a small bowl of water nearby. Dip your fingers into the water before handling the rice. Shape the rice into small oval shapes, about the size of your thumb. Then wrap one of the nori strips around that, securing the end with a little bit of water to seal it. Spoon some of the slightly-drained faux-roe over the top.
- Serve with soy sauce and the pickled daikon.
Alan Roettinger says
April 17, 2012 at 3:24 amWow–that's BRILLIANT! The kind of thing that makes a guy like me say, "Why didn't I think of that?"
erinwyso says
April 17, 2012 at 3:42 amThanks so much! That means a lot, especially coming from you … cheers!
bigFATcook says
April 17, 2012 at 8:06 amIt looks really good… very colorful, i like it!
shelley says
April 17, 2012 at 11:42 pmSo original and so COOL! I love the whole idea of this!
Sarah says
April 21, 2012 at 11:07 pmThis looks amazing! Vegan sushi rocks my socks. I have been addicted as of late. I think Sunday supper will be sushi – again!
chow vegan says
April 28, 2012 at 2:48 amVisually stunning is right, that looks amazing! So creative and original! Very nicely done! 🙂
Juanita says
April 29, 2012 at 9:32 amAn inspired dish indeed. Hats off to your creativity!
Anonymous says
June 20, 2012 at 3:27 pmInteresting idea! I've never tried fish roe so I wouldn't know what it's supposed to taste like though. lol
Elle says
July 23, 2012 at 8:25 amErin, that sushi looks amazing! I've only recently discovered your blog (via the Post Punk Kitchen forum) and wish it hadn't taken me so long to find. Your approach to cooking is so fun, creative, unique and inspiring! 🙂
As a fellow vegan girl cooking for a Meat-and-Potatoes guy, I'm very much looking forward to experimenting with your recipes!
erinwyso says
July 23, 2012 at 10:18 amThanks so much Elle! Always nice to meet a fellow PPK-er over here! : )
derek sarno says
February 10, 2014 at 3:42 pmOff the hook cool!
erinwyso says
February 10, 2014 at 5:11 pmThanks Derek!!
veganmiam.com says
February 10, 2014 at 5:52 pmBrilliant work! I like your faux roe idea! 😉
Coco in the Kitchen says
October 17, 2017 at 4:19 pmThis is gorgeous!
I just subscribed to your feed. Looking forward to more of your creations.
Cindy D Raley says
March 3, 2018 at 3:31 pmThese look SO amazing! I tried to make them and epically failed 🙁 I’m sure it was my fault, not the recipe. I will try again until I get it right. Dying to try the “scallops” too
I was pescatarian until January… no fish since then and would love to learn some of your techniques! Would love to share all of these on my page too to inspire others to eat less or no meat/fish
🙂