Plant-based Nori Rolls

Making Nori rolls is so much easier than many people think and there are no rules as to what you can use as a filling! You can use quinoa, millet, cauliflower rice, or pâtés in place of the usual sticky rice and experiment with different vegetables to find the ones that you like the best in the rolls.

​Nori is the sea vegetable that we use to make these rolls. It comes in light, square sheets and is a nutritious and fun way of presenting your veggies.
Nori is a good food source of iodine; the RDA of iodine is 150 mcg per day and one Nori sheet is reported to contain 70% of our daily needs, however the exact amount present in a Nori sheet can vary greatly.
It is also a source of vitamin A, vitamin C, folate and manganese. In addition to the health benefits, it tastes good! Seaweed gives us that ‘umami’ taste, which is Japanese for ‘savoury taste’.

Here are some ideas of fillings that work well in Nori rolls:

• avocado, sliced
• sweet red pepper, thin julienne strips
• cucumber, thin julienne strips
• carrots, thin julienne strips
• daikon, thin julienne strips
• spring onion, chopped finely
• chives, chopped finely or left long
• soft lettuce
• micro-greens

• sundried tomatoes
• tofu marinated in tamari, long thin strips

• hummus
• homemade plant-based mayonnaise
• sundried tomato pâté
• red pepper and walnut pâté
• ginger and walnut pâté
• ginger and sprouted sunflower seed pâté

• cauliflower ‘rice’
• cooked quinoa
• cooked brown rice

(recipes on their way....)

As you can see, there is no end to the many ways of how to fill a Nori roll! All you need are some sheets, some veggies and then let your creativity free!

How to assemble a Nori Roll

Place the Nori sheet on the mat textured side up and smooth, shiny side down, because it will look better when rolled.

Place Nori sheet on the mat, textured side up, shiny smooth side down

If you are using a pâté, spread that on the sheet first. Here I used Ginger & Sprouted Sunflower Seed Pâté.
Cover about ¾ of the sheet, leaving the farthest end from you empty. This is because if you fill the whole sheet, the contents will get squashed out by the time you have finished rolling the roll up.
​The same goes for when you use rice or quinoa.

Cover 3/4 of sheet with pâté, rice or quinoa

​Now add some veggies.
It’s easy to get over-enthusiastic here but don’t add huge amounts or you’ll have difficulty rolling it up.
​Lay the veggies across the sheet. I'm pushing it a bit with the amount I've got on this sheet! :)

​Now lift the mat and tuck the Nori over onto itself, rolling it as you go. It should be quite tight, but not so tight that you squeeze the contents out of the ends.

​Keep going until you get to the part of the Nori sheet which has no pâté on. This space will have reduced in size as you roll.

Wet your finger with water and run it along the edge of the sheet. Roll to the end. The water will make the Nori stick to itself.

​Now you have one long roll.

​With a clean, sharp knife, cut the roll in half and then cut each half into 3 pieces. Alternatively, cut along the embedded grooves. There are usually 6 of them, giving you 7 rolls.

With a clean, sharp knife, cut the roll

​Place them on a plate, pour some tamari into a little dish, grab your chopsticks and you’re ready to go!

With Red Pepper & Walnut Pâté

Nori Feast!