No-Rice Sushi Rolls

If you love sushi but are trying to cut down on your carbs for health reasons, I have found the perfect low calorie, healthy replacement.  We had been to a Japanese fusion restaurant where we ordered sushi rolls made with cumber instead of seaweed and were surprised to find no rice used in the rolls.

I was so impressed with the taste and texture that I did not miss the rice at all and promised myself that I would try this when I got home.

For this recipe I used Zucchini instead of cucumber and found it very easy to slice lengthwise on a mandolin.  You could probably use a potato peeler as well to get the long slices.  Be creative with the fillings since this is an excellent way to get your family to eat their vegetables and have fun at the same time.  I used plain cream cheese as a spread on the zucchini which acted as the glue to hold the roll tightly in place. I would suggest that you could substitute any flavored cream cheese spread for the recipe including spicy jalapeno if you like the heat!

My son and daughter-in-law were visiting and they are die-hard sushi lovers, so I decided to use them as guinea pigs. Initially they just laughed when I told them what I was doing until I presented them with the rolls and told them they could eat as much as they wanted but to save some pieces for my husband who was out.  After they began eating the next question I heard was "How much should we leave for dad?"  Should I say more?

They ended up cleaning the plate and I made some more for my husband.

Ingredients

This is what I used but feel free to add or substitute any filling....
1 medium Zucchini sliced lengthwise
Cream cheese softened ( regular or flavored)
1 carrot cut into matchstick sized pieces
1 cucumber cut into matchstick sized pieces
1 can sockeye salmon ( for vegetarians use garbanzo or black beans gently pulsed in your food processor to resemble crumbs)
1 tablespoon hot sauce (I use sriracha)

Method

Lay out all your ingredients close together before you start.
Add the hot sauce according to your taste to the plain cream cheese and mix well.

On a flat surface, lay out one zucchini slice.  Spread a nice layer of cream cheese on the zucchini.
Now place the filling towards one side as shown in the picture.  Roll the Zucchini starting on the side that the fillings are on.
You will be surprised how well the roll sticks together. 

Place the rolls on a decorative plate and serve with hot sauce for dipping.  Enjoy!

Approximate calories per roll
calories 58.9/ total fat 3.4 g/ total carbs 2 g/protein 4.6 g

This recipe has been inspired by Delish