Vegan “Eel” Sushi with Homemade Unagi Sauce
5 ingredient vegan sushi, a great alternative to conventional eel sushi with all of the flavour you love! Made with eggplant, sushi rice, and an addicting homemade unagi sauce. This easy recipe is vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and oil-free.
Servings: 3 -4 servings
Ingredients
- 2-3 Japanese/Chinese eggplants I used 3 pieces roughly 8" in size
- 1/3 cup gluten free soy sauce or tamari
- 1/3 cup mirin
- 2-3 tbsp coconut sugar
- salt
- neutral oil
- optional garnish
- green onions
- sesame seeds
- nori
Instructions
- Begin by preparing the eggplant. Remove the skin using a veggie peeler and then slice lengthwise into 1/4" thick planks. If you're enjoying as donburi, you can keep your slices long, otherwise, cut planks into roughly 4-5" long pieces to enjoy as sushi!
- Generously sprinkle salt over both sides of every eggplant piece and allow to sit for 15-20 minutes. Rinse off any excess salt and pat dry with a kitchen towel.
- Cook both sides of your eggplant pieces in a large pan with a touch of neutral oil, just until lightly golden. Then make your sauce by combining tamari, mirin and coconut sugar and adding to the pan.
- On low heat, braise your eggplant in the sauce until it starts to reduce down and becomes slightly viscous.
- As an optional step, finish your "eel" by torching with a blowtorch.
- To serve, top your rice with your eggplant pieces, brush or spoon over leftover glaze from the pan and top with green onions and sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
Serving Tips
- You can enjoy this vegan sushi over rice, donburi style (Japanese rice bowl), or chop it into small pieces to create nigiri (sushi pieces).
- If you're not a fan of eggplant, you can also just make the unagi sauce and enjoy it with... well, everything! It's absolutely delicious, trust me.