The challenge: tuna sashimi tasting plate - consisting of tuna avocado sushi maki, tuna tataki (with daikon salad) & tuna sashimi tacos!
The show allowed the contestant about 2 hours to complete the challenge, so I set myself a time limit of 2 hours 15 mins. Overall, all the process were quite simple, the only problem was that there were alot of elements to each dish. Luckily, they were able to be prepared before, which meant that the assembly was the busiest part.
The dish I started on was the tuna & avocado sushi - the first step was to thoroughly rinse the rice, leave it to sit a bit and cook it, and while that was cooking I was able to prepare the rest of the dishes and elements. Once the rice was cooked, cooled and seasoned (and all the tuna and avo pieces were cut up) it was ready to roll. The sushi roll was an inside out roll, so it was a little bit difficult to handle because it was quite sticky on the outside, but it was still manageable and turned out very nicely! Without realising it I had actually eaten half the ingredients while I was cooking and cutting everything up, so when I came to rolling it I luckily had JUST enough to fill it! Very close call.. (not to self for next time... stop eating! well at least until it's finished!)
Tuna & cucumber sushi:
The tuna tataki is not completely raw tuna, it must be lightly seared after being coated in salt and pepper and allowing it to set for approx. 20 mins. So this meant I had to get this coated first and allow to sit, and then seal in a very hot grill pan. After it was sealed for about 30 secs on each side, I quickly popped it in the freezer so that it would stop cooking and could firm up a little (this helps to slice the tuna much more easily)
Tuna sashimi (coated before searing):
Daikon & beansprout salad:
The other element of the tuna tataki is the daikon salad. This was probably the most intriqette part because you have to really thinly slice the daikon, and after nearly cutting of my finger twice, I finally managed to get a few nice slices to serve.
Once this is done, it gets rolled with the bean sprouts some mesculun and topped with the thinly sliced seared tuna and dressing (which I made from scratch from onions, mustard, vinegar, water, oil)
The easiest dish to prepare was probably the tuna sashimi tacos, becuase all the elements were cut up and prepared at the beginning and then quickly assembled at the end. It basically invovles deep frying some wontons into taco's, and filling with the cut up tuna sashimi (comgbined with onion & garlic) and then topping with the salsa
Tuna sashimi with garlic and onion:
Wonton tacos:
My first attempt at salsa didn't go quite as planned. I had bought red birdseye chilli's instead of jalapeno's.. and these red ones are MUCH hotter! I also used salad onions instead of spanish onions, and didn't realise how much stronger they were. After combining all the salsa ingredients I had a little taste and within 2 seconds my mouth was burning and eyes were watering.. so I figured it was only smart to chuck that batch out and start again from scratch. Luckily that doesn't take to long, and the next mixture was much much milder and easier to eat.. woops!
After nearly 2 hours of preparation I was now preparing myself for assembly, because I knew this would be difficult part. I started off with the rolling of the sushi, and placing the avo on the outside to be rolled again which overall took about 5 mins (because I am a perfectionist). Next was the tuna tataki, which required rolling the daikon slices with the sprouts & mesculun, and placing ontop of cucumber slices and topping with tuna and garlic chips. Finally, there was the tuna tacos which as I said was easy as pie... Just stuff the tacos with the tuna sashimi mixture and salsa and a squeeze of lemon.
As I finished I took a step back and realised there was actually a hell of alot more food than I expected and after considering inviting more people over to dinner to finish it off, my dad looked at me as if I was insane and assured me there would be nothing left for anyone to eat, and after I tasted one tuna tacos I nearly polished off the entire place, it was delish!!!
I wouldn't quite recommend this dish to everyone because it takes a while, but if ur willing then go ahead! You may be pleasantly surprised at what a healthy nice dish you can put up!
Just incase you were wondering.. i managed to complete all three dishes in the 2 hours and 15 minutes, with a few minutes to spare so I could quickly eat some before everyone else got to it ;)
Check out the finished tasting plate below:
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