California Sushi Stack

So I originally had this at my mom’s house (although I don’t know where she got the recipe). We are food dorks together and she basically always has a menu set when I come to visit… a menu that involves us chopping and cooking and playing too much in the kitchen 🙂 and I love it! We joked last time I visited about what the heck we would do together if we didn’t like to cook… maybe shop and spend all of our husband’s money?! Good for them we like to play in the kitchen and they get to reap the rewards.

Back to the food… this is a recipe right after my taste own taste buds. I love sushi but never make it at home because it normally required sushi grade fish, which I don’t happen to have lying at home waiting for me. This california stack uses shrimp which is always sitting in my freezer and the method is much easier than attempting to create an actual roll (if you’ve ever tried rolling sushi… let’s just say it takes some practice to master). The flavors scream sushi roll without requiring the technique.

This could easily be served as an appetizer for 4-6 but I’ve had it as dinner for 2 as well.

I love the little strips of nori on top but that is an easy thing to sub out if you’re not a huge fan of the ‘seaweed’ taste on top. I basically just get an individual package of the little nori snacks for these and munch on the rest while I make this recipe… yes I am a GIANT snacker while I cook. Sometimes I don’t even have an appetite once the meal is finished!

California Sushi Stack

By Lindsay Gosselin Serves: 2-4 Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 10 oz bag of Trader Joe’s frozen cooked rice*
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 8 oz cooked shrimp, peeled and tails removed
• 1 c cucumber, diced
• 1 medium avocado, cubed or smashed
• 2 tbsp mayo
• 1 tsp sriracha
• sesame seeds (optional)
• 2 nori seaweed snack strips (optional)
• soy sauce

Instructions

1

Heat frozen rice according to package directions. Put heated rice in a shallow bowl and stir in the rice vinegar while the rice is warm. (Don’t omit the rice vinegar! It’s what really makes this rice taste like sushi rice.) Spread the rice out in the shallow bowl once combined so it can cool.

2

Chop the cooked shrimp into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

3

In a small bowl, mix mayo and desired amount of sriracha together until combined. I like to then transfer this mixture to a ziploc bag so I can pipe it over the stack.**

4

Grab a serving plate and get to stacking. If using for an appetizer, I just put this on a platter with a spoon and let people grab as much as they’d like.

5

Stack- rice, shrimp, cucumber, then avocado. You can make it as pretty or as rustic looking as you'd like.

6

Top with a drizzle of the mayo mixture, soy sauce, sprinkle of sesame seeds and nori (if using).

Notes

*If you’d like to go low carb- you can substitute cauliflower rice or even try this without the rice altogether. **Transfer the mixture to one of the bottom corners of a small ziploc bag. We are trying to use this as a piping bag. Start twisting the bag just above the mixture so that the mixture moves as close to the corner as possible and no mixture escapes. Hold the bag twisted with one hand and use scissors to snip a small hole in the tip of the corner that has the mixture in it. Now it’s ready for you to pipe onto your California stack. (I promise this only gets easier with a little more practice)