November’s challenge out of the Daring Kitchen is Sushi!  Yeah!  I have been wanting to learn to make sushi for a long time and it has just been on the back burner.  So much going on, so little time in the day.  So thank you to Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen for choosing sushi as this months challenge (and giving me a kick in the pants to actually get it done).

The challenge is four parts :

1.  Making proper sushi rice to form the following required rolls

2.  Dragon Roll 

3.  Decorative Sushi Roll

4.  Nigri Sushi

As long as I was at it I also made a Temaki (hand roll).

Sushi Rice

The Dragon Roll that I prepared is a take on the Crunchy Shrimp Roll that I typically order when we have sushi out.  It is a uramaki roll (rice on the outside) and is filled with tempura shrimp (recipe here)  and cucumbers, then topped with avocado slices that are supposed to resemble scales.  This was my favorite roll.

Dragon Roll

I prepared two Decorative Sushi Rolls, the first one is a typical California Maki Roll, filled with krab, cucumber and avocado.  The second one is a Crunchy Shrimp Roll, again in the uramaki style.

California Roll

Crunchy Shrimp Roll

The Nigri is a hand shaped ball of rice topped with poached shrimp.

Nigri Roll

The Temaki that I prepared is filled with chopped hoisin chicken, mixed with a spicy mayo and topped with scallions.

Temaki Roll

Overall this was a very excellent challenge.  Here in So Cal it is impossibly expensive to go out for sushi and this proved to be a fun alternative that probably cost about as much as a single order of sushi.  I was disappointed that I was unable to procure any unagi (bbq eel).  And of course, I have never been a fan of sashimi (raw fish), I think it’s a texture thing.  But I prefer my raw fish as ceviche, not sashimi.

For the complete recipe (still getting a 404 error when I try to cut and paste) give Audax or Rose a visit.  And be sure to check out what the other Darings have done.

Coming soon…

• My failed October Daring Bakers Challenge (still repairing my pride on that one)
• An update on life in general
• Chandler’s latest ordeal (and recovery)
• The soon to be posted November Daring Bakers Challenge… very excited about this one
• and of course Thanksgiving dishes, ideas, decorating and celebrating with family

~Blondie