Fruit Sushi

Happy New Year! Man, it’s crazy to think that it’s already 2019. Time has just flown by! And just like every year, you’ve probably come up with a few resolutions. What about...eating healthier? If that’s the case, I have a great idea for a healthy and tasty dessert – fruit sushi.

Besides having a New Year's resolutions, during January this year, some people celebrate Tu Bi'Shvat- 15 of Shevat - the Jewish New Year of the Trees. This day “marks the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle" (by chabad.org)

To mark this holiday, you eat fruits and especially the 7 species (shivat haminim) that grow in the Holy Land: dates, grapes, figs, pomegranates, barley, wheat and olives. Additionally, you eat more fruits and vegetables that grow in Israel like almonds. My easy fruit sushi recipe can be part of the celebration, not just with its festive look but also its beautiful taste 🙂

Whoever told you sushi is just fish and vegetables is wrong! You can have sushi for dessert and it's also a vegan dish and therefore parve (kosher- nondairy).

With colorful soy wraps and no rice at all, these little bites are so delicious. I chose to make my fruit sushi without rice because I don't like sweet rice, I know in some cuisines it's very common to have sweet rice as a dessert but I just don't like it. To replace the rice, I used cooked coconut batter as a filling with fruits and more fruits for decorations.

Keep in mind that the cooked coconut batter can be made up to 5 days in advance, but once the fruit sushi is assembled with the fruits, it needs to be eaten the same day because cut fruits don't last.

If you have never heard about soy wraps and wonder where you can get them, just click here. You can also try to make the fruit sushi without them but I think they look nice and upgrade the dish. Plus, it helps when rolling the sushi.

You will also need a sushi mat for rolling the sushi, if you don't have any, just use a large piece of cling film to help you roll.

After cooking and cooling the coconut batter for filling, cut the fruits you are using to sticks. Each fruit has its own shape so they won’t all look like sticks but you need them in their longest form to fill the sushi.

How to assemble the fruit sushi:

Place a soy wrap on the mat. On the soy wrap, lay down a rectangle of coconut batter. Flatten it with you hand to cover the whole soy wrap. Place the fruits you cut in a line at the end of the mat that is closest to you but leave some narrow margins.

Lift the mat and roll to cover the fruits. Go slowly. Press the batter and fruits. Roll again to finish the sushi wrap.

Cut the roll to 8 pieces and garnish with some more fruits.

The fruits I used are strawberries, kiwi, banana, pomegranates, dried cranberries, persimmon and dates. You may want to use fruits that are less watery and don't drip a lot of juice when cutting them, dried fruits fit this recipe very well.

You can garnish the fruit sushi with more fruits or with nuts and also serve it with a sweet dip like melted chocolate or caramel - YUM!

Recipe yields 8-10 rolls

Here is the recipe for this yummy fruit sushi: