Sushi! And a sustainable replacement for unagi.
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.
To be honest, I was both excited and disappointed when I saw this challenge. Because, well… I love sushi! But… I make sushi all the time. Where’s the challenge for me?
Sumeshi. Dragon Roll. Decorative rolls. Nigiri sushi. Those were the “challenges” for this month. For most people, this is a great challenge, because if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone is scared of trying to make sushi at home… I’d be a very rich woman indeed. But for me… I’ve done that all already. Countless times. *sigh*
But!!! In fact, I was able to find something here to challenge me. You see, unagi is bad, bad, bad. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve eaten unagi many times in the past and enjoyed it quite a bit. But… it’s not sustainable. At all. Not good. Especially when these days, I’m trying to go completely sustainable, at least when it comes to seafood.
Inspired by a roll Hajime Sato made at the Sustainable Sushi Dinner at Mashiko, I decided I would make my own sustainable replacement for unagi. Made from catfish. And that, my friends, was my challenge for this month’s Daring Cooks challenge.
So how did it turn out? Wonderfully. Perfect. The taste, the texture… we might as well have been eating unagi. It was fantastic.
For the Dragon Roll instructions and the sumeshi recipe we were to use for this challenge, go check out the posts on Audax’s and Rose’s blogs. For lots and lots more sushi recipes and the instructions that I use for my own sushi, check out Sushi Day, my sushi blog.
Catfish
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 1/2 cup shoyu
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 catfish fillets
Cooking Instructions
- Combine the mirin, shoyu, and sugar in a small pot.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer for half an hour. Let cool.
- Marinate the catfish in the sauce overnight.
- Bring the oven to 350°F.
- Wrap the catfish fillets in individual foil packets, pouring some of the sauce over each fillet. Bake 30-45 minutes, keeping an eye on the catfish so it doesn’t overcook.
- Let cool. Enjoy!
