“Tuna” Gunkan Maki Sushi (Vegan)

Directions

• Combine all the marinade ingredients and marinate the watermelons in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight).
• I actually forgot about them and left them in the refrigerator for 2 days… The color is still vibrantly red but I could smell that they’ve taken up all that umami flavor! Preheat the oven to 275 F (135 C) and place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray. Save most of the marinade.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 1.5 hours to 2 hours. Make sure to use a spatula to turn them or move them around once every 30 minutes or so. The roast is a very slow one — the low temperature will slowly tenderize the watermelon without charring or caramelizing it, so as to retain that raw look. In the end, the watermelon should become squishy and bouncy. At this point, place them back into the marinade while you prepare your other ingredients. Note: When you place the hot watermelon (after roasting) back into the cold marinade, you not only allow the watermelon to cool down quicker, but allow the watermelon to re-absorb all that umami flavor from the marinade.
• Now onto the sushi rice. Take some freshly cooked rice and mix with rice vinegar and sugar with a rice scooper. You should be doing this while the rice is still hot*
• Make oval rice balls in your palm (dampened with water!) and set them aside to let dry.
• Take your “tuna” out of the marinade and roughly chop them. At this point you can remove all the seeds that were buried within the watermelon cubes.
• When everything is prepared, take out your nori and slice length-wise into strips. Using dry hands, roll the nori strip around the oval rice balls, and close up the ends.
• Spoon a healthy portion of the minced tuna — enjoy immediately.