How To Properly Peel Cucumbers For The Best Bite-Size Sushi Rolls

There's a reason why making sushi is left up to the expert sushi chefs who have trained for years to master the art of slicing fish and perfect hand rolling. You can attempt making traditional sushi at home, but then there's the hassle of gathering sushi-making tools like a bamboo mat, buying nori, and cooking sushi rice. So let's skip the ordeal and go for an easier, gluten-free version. Simply swap out the rice and nori and make cucumber the sushi wrapping. To do so, you'll need long, thin slices of cucumber, using one simple kitchen tool to get you there. 

For this quicker method of making biteable cucumber sushi rolls, just trim the ends of the cucumber and use your vegetable peeler. You can choose whether to peel the skin or leave it on, but the key here is using your vegetable peeler to slice along the length of the cucumber to create a long, thin strip. You'll want to use a long cucumber like an English or Japanese cucumber over other cucumber varieties. These cucumber strips will become the vehicle to stuff and wrap your sushi rolls.

You might be wondering how much you're able to stuff in each roll when a thin, watery strip of cucumber is the foundation. But not to worry — simply double up your cucumber strips for each roll. Now you have sturdy cucumber wrappers that are ready to go! There's no need to fill these cucumber rolls with raw fish like traditional sushi if that's not what you're craving since cucumber-wrapped sushi is not a traditional Japanese form of sushi anyway. You can fill your rolls according to your taste preferences because cucumbers are a versatile fruit able to be paired with many different flavor profiles. Try slicing and chopping your ingredients beforehand so you're ready to bring together your filling in a flash.

A great question to ask yourself when deciding what to put inside your bite-size cucumber roll is, "What can I schmear and what can I stuff?" You have these long, beautiful slices of cucumber that make for the perfect base for a creamy schmear or dip to be slathered all over. These schmears and dips will also be the key to holding your rolls together since you're not using sticky sushi rice. Then just pair the schmear with your favorite fruits or veggies on top. 

Think of your cucumber sushi roll as an entire crudité platter in one bite. You can take inspiration from the Philadelphia roll by spreading cream cheese on your cucumbers and filling them with thin slices of smoked salmon. Or what about a vegan-friendly version with creamy hummus, tiny, diced red peppers, and thin avocado slices?  The longer your choice of cucumber, the longer your cucumber strips, so you have more real estate to stuff to your heart's delight.  

After you fill each cucumber slice, tightly roll the cucumbers, starting from the bottom and rolling up to the top. Make sure to stand the rolls upright on your plate for serving so they hold their shape. And if you have a taste for spice, feel free to add a small drop of your favorite hot sauce, like Sriracha, on top of each upright sushi bite. Mix and match stuffing and topping ingredients and you've got a gluten-free appetizing bite in a flash, all thanks to your vegetable peeler and the humble cucumber.