You want to eat sushi, but you don’t want the carbs. No problem. Here is a great recipe for you. It’s low-carb (keto-friendly), and absolutely delicious. You won’t miss the rice!
Being a sushi lover who’s been avoiding carbs, I’ve developed this recipe through trial and error, with the help of my partner who always gave me honest feedback.
We are using kefir cheese or cream cheese as the base for the keto rice (shari, シャリ). I like to use kefir cheese so I get the benefits of probiotics too.
Because working with the cheese can be messy, I like to make temari zushi (手まり寿司, ball-shaped sushi), which is shaped using plastic wraps, as shown in the recipe and the video, rather than the typical type of sushi, i.e. nigiri zushi (握り寿司, hand-pressed sushi), which is shaped using hands.
It’s a little time consuming to make. But in the end you will get a beautiful-looking dish that will wow the crowd. So make this for a special occasion. 🙂
Keto Sushi (No Rice!)
Ingredients
Keto Rice (Shari, シャリ)
- 250 ml kefir cheese or cream cheese (If you are using kefir cheese, make sure it is drained thoroughly to the point where its consistency becomes similar to cream cheese. (See my kefir cheese recipe on how to make kefir cheese drier and denser.))
- 1 pinch salt (Salt is for kefir cheese only. If you are using cream cheese, omit salt, as cream cheese already contains salt.)
- 65 ml ground cauliflower florets (About 1/4 the volume of the kefir/cream cheese.)
Toppings (Nega, ネタ) – Use any fish, seafood, vegetables, etc. of your choice. Below are examples.
- tuna (thinly sliced)
- salmon (thinly sliced)
- squid (thinly sliced)
- steamed shrimp (thinly sliced)
- cucumber (thinly sliced)
- egg (thin strips (kinshi tamago, 錦糸卵))
Garnish – Optional. Below are examples.
- salmon roe (ikura, イクラ)
- lemon, yuzu, or other citrus fruits
- broccoli sprouts
- basil leaves / oba leaves / Italian parsely
- sesame seeds
- olives / capers
- pink peppercorns
- ground black pepper
- Maldon salt or other crystal salts
- edible gold leaf
directions
Making Keto Rice (Shari, シャリ)
- Briefly cook ground cauliflower florets in a pan on low heat.
- Add the cooked cauliflower florets to the kefir/cream cheese.Kefir/cream cheese is silky smooth in texture. Adding some ground cauliflower florets into the keto rice will give a little bit of crunch and more of a satisfactory feel when you bite into the keto rice.
- If you are using kefir cheese (rather than cream cheese), add salt.
- Mix, and we have keto rice!
Assembly
- Prepare the toppings and garnish.
- Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a table. Then lay one or two pieces of sushi toppings.Keep the layer of toppings thin so that they can easily bind with the keto rice after this.I'm making shrimp sushi in this picture.
- Lay a teaspoon to a tablespoon of kefir rice on the layer of toppings.
- Pick up the whole thing in your hand and wrap the layer of toppings around the keto rice using the plastic wrap. Form it into a ball shape.
- Take out the ball-shaped sushi from the plastic wrap and place it onto a plate.It’s a little messy, but somehow it works out in the end. 🙂
- Tuna sushi
- Salmon sushi
- Squid sushi with a piece of basil leaf
- Cucumber sushi
- Egg (Kinshi Tamago) sushi
- Voila!
- Decorate with garnish.
- Serve it with soy sauce and/or salt. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- How to make kefir cheese: https://sakurayubi.com/kefir-cheese/
Nutrition
Hi! I’m a Japanese woman who lives in Tokyo. My passion is cooking and eating food. Read more about me at https://sakurayubi.com/about/
