Monday 16 November 2009

The Daring Cooks November 2009 Challenge: Sushi!

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax
Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.
Sushi (寿司 or 鮨 or 鮓) is much appreciated for its delicate taste and exquisite appearance. Sushi
actually means vinegared rice, which is the essential ingredient in every sushi recipe. Sushi is
simple and cheap to make at home, needs no special equipment and is an excellent way to use left
overs.
Although sushi in various forms has been around for fourteen centuries, the modern version was
invented in Japan in the 1800’s where a 'hand-formed' sliced fresh fish and vinegared rice ball was
eaten as a snack food. Nowadays, sushi is made with various seafood, meats and vegetables, raw
and cooked.



Although I have made sushi numerous times before, this was my first attempt at a decorative style.  It was great fun and much easier than I expected.  The first one was the Dragon Roll:

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="800" caption="Dragon Roll"]Dragon Roll[/caption]

It is supposed to be covered in avocado, but I was unable to buy any, so I just sprinkled Nigella seeds on top instead.  the filling was cucumber and smoked salmon.

The second style we made was spiral sushi.  It has 6 different fillings.  I used inari, blanched carrot, cucumber, smoked salmon, red capsicum and fresh asparagus.  Finally, we had to have a go at the hand shaped nigiri.  These I had made before, not that you would guess by the dodgy shaping!!  You can get a printable copy of the recipe here.  Don't be intimidated by how long it is, they are just detailed instructions, the actual process is surprisingly quick and easy.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="800" caption="Nigiri on the top, and spiral sushi below."][/caption]

All in all, a delicious challenge as always.  Both daughters loved it and it made a lovely dinner for a mild spring evening, eaten out on the front verandah watching the sun set over the hills surrounding our little valley.  Aaaaaahhhh!

5 comments:

  1. It sounds so welcoming eaten out on the front verandah watching the sun set over the hills surrounding our little valley. Aaaaaahhhh! and delicious.

    Your sushi looks so yummy and that dragon roll is especially well formed.

    Well done on this challenge. Cheers from Audax in Sydney.

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  2. Oooo I like your dragon roll!
    It looks good without the avocado.
    Very pretty sushi!

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  3. Neat and beautiful sushis! Love the creative dragon sushi!

    Regards
    Kris

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  4. your white dragon roll is very pretty and the spiral rolls look so delicious!

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  5. this looks divine. it all looks perfect, pretty, tasty.

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