I found some beautiful king oyster mushrooms in Chinatown last week, with no real plan on how to use them. I didn’t want to buy a ton of ingredients to make a dish, so I used what I already had in my cabinets and refrigerator, and made these spicy and nicely textured sushi rolls with them. The trick here with getting the mushrooms to develop a similar texture to a scallop is an hour-long soak in a little warm water to soften them up a bit. A quick roll in some panko and cornstarch gives these rolls a nice little crunch and goes well with the spicy sriracha-Vegenaise sauce.
If you scan below for the ingredients that I used to make the glaze you see on the plate above, you won’t find them—I was overgenerous with adding in a thickener, and ended up with an aromatic but weirdly textured sauce that was almost inedible. However, it turned out that this dish doesn’t really require all of that anyway, as a quick dunk in a little soy sauce balances everything out perfectly here.
SPICY VEGAN SCALLOP ROLL
Yield 4 rolls
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sushi rice, soaked for 30 minutes in cold water
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 TB rice vinegar
- 1 TB sugar
- 1/2 TB salt
- plenty of oil for frying
- 4 straight, medium-sized king oyster mushroom stems, soaked in warm water for about an hour
- 1 1/2 tsp Ener-G, whisked with 5 TB cold water
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 4 toasted nori sheets
- sesame seeds
- 4 TB Vegenaise mixed with 1 tsp to 1 TB sriracha, to taste
- soy sauce
optional, to serve
- vegan caviar (I used prepared IKEA brand, but you can also make your own)
- pea shoots or sprouts
Instructions
- After the rice has soaked for 30 minutes, rinse thoroughly under fresh cold water and place into a rice cooker with the 1 1/2 cups of water. Once the rice is ready, place the rice vinegar, sugar and salt into a large glass bowl and place in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Transfer the cooked rice to the glass bowl and stir well. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a small pot over medium-high heat. After 7 minutes, throw a pinch of cornstarch into it. If it sizzles immediately, you are ready to fry. Place the mushroom stems into the Ener-G/water mixture, then roll them in the panko/cornstarch mixture until well coated. Tap off any excess. Fry each piece separately for about 2 minutes and place on paper towels to drain and cool.
- Roll your sushi, spooning some of the sriracha-Vegenaise dressing in a straight line next to the mushroom. Serve with soy sauce and garnish with vegan caviar and pea shoots or sprouts, if desired.
Kristina @ spabettie says
January 27, 2013 at 10:34 pmthese are beautiful and sound oh so good. I love the mushroom scallops…
erinwyso says
January 27, 2013 at 10:49 pmThank you Kristina! : )
Gina says
January 27, 2013 at 11:03 pmStunning photos. Thanks so much for the recipe and tips. I make vegan Sushi often, and look forward to trying something new.
LittleMonsterx14 says
January 28, 2013 at 1:30 amthis is perfection!
theroadtoserendipity says
January 28, 2013 at 2:41 amThis recipe is amazing! You could rock this recipe all the way to the finals on Masterchef it looks so good! Kudos on this wonderful creation 🙂
erinwyso says
January 28, 2013 at 11:22 amyou are too kind, thank you!
Caitlin says
January 28, 2013 at 3:05 amlovely! i love your utilization of mushrooms to make oysters. once again, these look fabulous! which reminds me, it's been far too long since i've had sushi!
erinwyso says
January 28, 2013 at 11:24 amThanks Caitlin!
india leigh says
January 28, 2013 at 4:18 pmbreathtaking photography. How inventive too! I'm making these asap!
urban vegan says
January 28, 2013 at 8:36 pmWhat a fun idea! Gorgeous photo, too
erinwyso says
January 28, 2013 at 10:59 pmThank you Dynise!
Hanna Confer says
January 28, 2013 at 11:42 pmHow did I not know about vegan caviar at ikea?! Guess where I am going tonight.
These look really beautiful and delish!
Babette says
January 29, 2013 at 12:09 amIt must be very tasty with the mushrooms. Meaty!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
January 29, 2013 at 5:50 amI love this! Very beautiful as always. I must make soon 🙂
Miguel Cizeron says
January 29, 2013 at 7:49 pmOne simple thing to say: perfect… PERFECT!!!
erinwyso says
January 29, 2013 at 11:00 pmThank you, Miguel! : )
HoosierGirl says
February 27, 2013 at 12:46 amYour website is one of the most elegant, drop-dead gorgeous food blogs I read!!! I LOVE it and want to try every recipe. Thank you SO much.
erinwyso says
February 27, 2013 at 1:06 amThank you so much for your kind comment! Glad you like the blog! : )
Leila A. Fortier says
April 7, 2013 at 6:16 amI was so excited with how this came out! We have no vegan caviar here on island so I tried to think of a substitute. I ended up making some small pearl tapioca and soaking them in soy sauce. I let them drain and set for some time. The color was more orange/brown…but it looked like real salmon roe. I was so delighted! It made for a gorgeous presentation!
erinwyso says
April 7, 2013 at 2:11 pmBrilliant idea … I love it, Leila!
Barbara says
November 4, 2017 at 7:05 pmHi, can I make this in advance? A couple of hours before serving?
erinwyso says
November 5, 2017 at 7:24 amI can’t say for sure because I haven’t tried that. If you are making for a get-together or party, you could always try a test batch and see! I would advise against refrigeration if you do — the rice texture tends to get mealy if you do.
Amanda says
March 4, 2018 at 4:21 pmI made these last night and completely loved them. I have never had real scallops, but the flavor definitely reminded me of fried shrimp in sushi and the texture was like octopus to me. I made these for four people (who all eat meat) and everyone loved them. This is my favorite vegan sushi I have tried. Probably the only thing that would make this recipe better is including instructions on how to roll the sushi because this was my first time making sushi in a few years and I didn’t remember exactly how to do it at first. Another amazing recipe from you.
erinwyso says
March 5, 2018 at 4:58 amAmanda, so happy you and your guests enjoyed! I have been wanting to do a sushi rolling tutorial here … I will have to move that one up on the list!
Lolly says
May 24, 2019 at 4:53 pmWonderful! – if you want the scallops to be a little more tasting of the sea, simmer them lightly in a broth of one or two nori sheets for approx. 15mins.