Dessert Sushi

This idea stems from me being in product development.  I'm always trying to keep on top of current food trends, looking for gaps in the market, thinking of new, innovative ideas. Sometimes it's good to try and 'think outside the box', in the hope of coming up with a great idea that nobody has seen before.

As I was walking up and down the isles of my local M&S one day, trying to find some inspiration, I came to the pre-packed sushi section. What used to consist of just a single shelf with one or two options available, now stood a whole section, with a vast array of different flavours, shapes, and sizes. Sushi is very much a growing food trend in the UK! Then it dawned on me....why had nobody tried to do a sweet variety? Sushi doesn't have to contain fish (the closest English translation for sushi is 'seasoned rice' - raw fish is actually called 'sashimi'), and one of our biggest loves in Britain is rice pudding, hot or cold - surely this was an opportunity being missed? So I went home and started to create some ideas...

Red berry compote, white chocolate, fresh tarragon, and a biscuit crumb

Dessert Sushi

I think these would make a great finale to a dinner party; something unique, a talking point of the evening for your guests. It does involve quite a bit of work, but if you fancy a challenge I'm sure you'd have fun in the process too. I've made three different varieties here, but you could do as many, or as few as you wished. Here is the recipe for one of the varieties, you can then use the same techniques to make as many different combinations as you like.

White chocolate & cardamom

I have chosen a very thick white chocolate & cardamom rice pudding for the base of the sushi. The white chocolate helps to set the creamy rice so it's easier to pick up, and the cardamom gives an interesting background flavour to compliment the various fillings. The different fruit/chocolate/nut/caramel combinations you can make are endless, but I have chosen a few that give a good variety of both flavours and colours.

Ingredients (makes enough rice for about 25 pieces of sushi)

for the rice pudding

125g Pudding Rice

400g Semi skimmed milk

60g Whipping cream

75g Caster Sugar

3 Cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground to a powder (optional)

60g White chocolate, broken in to chunks

• Place all the ingredients except the white chocolate in a medium saucepan and gently bring to a simmer.
• Stirring frequently, cook for around 30-40 minutes, until you have a 'very' thick rice pudding. If the rice is not fully cooked by this point, add a little hot water and continue to cook until the rice is soft and the mixture is thick again.
• Remove from the heat, and stir in the white chocolate until fully melted. Then remove the rice pudding from the pan in to a dish, cover with clingfilm (make sure the clingfilm is touching the surface of the rice to avoid a skin forming), and leave to cool. Once cooled down, place in the fridge to chill.

The rice pudding needs to be really thick so that it holds when you
pick up the pieces of sushi.

for the red berry compote

100g Frozen strawberries

50g Frozen raspberries

14g Caster sugar

1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tsp of cold water

Fresh lemon juice

• Place the fruits and sugar in a small saucepan and slowly cook on a gentle heat.
• When the fruits have started to soften and the juices have turned in to a dark red sauce, stir in the cornflour mix, and cook until the sauce has thickened. (You may need more, or less cornflour, as long as you end up with a thick sauce the consistency of jam)
• Finish with a few drops of lemon juice; this really helps to bring the flavour of the berries out.
• Remove and chill in the fridge till cold.
• Roll out a sheet of cling film on to a work surface. Spread the red berry compote in a line across the centre of the cling film. Roll the compote in to a tube with the clingfilm. Twist at both ends until you form a nice, solid cylinder (roughly the width of a £2 coin - see picture).
• Place in the freezer for at least 4 hours until frozen solid 

Red berry compote, ready to be frozen

to build the sushi

• Roll out a sheet of cling film about 50cm wide. Spread an even layer of the rice pudding in to a rectangular shape, about the thickness of a £1 coin.
• Unwrap the frozen cylinder of compote and lay across the sheet of rice pudding. Using the cling film, roll the rice pudding around the compote, then twist the ends of cling film until you have a nice, tight cylinder again.
• Place back in the freezer for at least 2 hours, until reasonably firm.
• Once firm, remove from the freezer and unwrap the cling film. Roll the whole cylinder in your choice of coating (I chose crushed biscuit crumbs for this one).
• Slice in to 1 inch pieces, place on the serving dish, and leave to defrost for an hour in the fridge. 
• When ready to serve, garnish with white chocolate shavings and sprigs of fresh tarragon.

Keep the cling film tight as you roll to help avoid any air pockets. Take your time with the first one,
you can stop and shape with your fingers as many times as you need. 

Chocolate praline ganache, caramelised banana, rolled in toasted sesame seed. 

 

Whole pieces of mango, grated coconut, topped with fresh passion fruit.

I wasn't going for the '70s/retro' vibe, but that seems to be what resulted with this photo. Mirrors are a nice way of displaying canapés, petit fours, etc. I chose pomegranate seeds to decorate this time, I think I might try small flicks
of raspberry coulis next. 

I chose to serve the dessert with a sweet wine - 'Chateau Les Sablines Monbazillac'. I say 'serve', but it was in fact just for myself and the purpose of this blog. For a chef that currently specialises in desserts, I know very little about dessert wines, and wanted to start broadening my knowledge. As I studied the labels of all the bottles in Waitrose, for £8.95 this sweet French wine promised to be a good place to start.....and it was! With sweet honey and orange flavours, it still had enough lemony acidity to cut through the creaminess of the rice pudding, and they complimented each other brilliantly. I finished the bottle.

Chateau Les Sablines Monbazillac - dessert wine made with a blend of Sauvignon, Sémillon,
 and Muscadelle.

I was reasonably happy with how these turned out, but I certainly think I'll improve on them next time round. The Japanese would probably choke at me even calling these little concoctions 'sushi'; they spend years learning the fine art of carving their sushi the correct way, achieving perfect symmetry....mine certainly ended up with a more 'rustic' finish. But I think that's the beauty of food, and cooking - it's subjective, everybody has their own opinion, and I think you should be free to explore different ideas and variations without prejudice. The top sushi chefs of Tokyo would very likely turn their noses up at my dessert sushi creations, but in my flat in Essex, with a good bottle of wine......they went down a treat.

What are your thoughts? What interesting/classic/crazy combinations would you want to try?

Let's start with chocolate...

 Chocolate. Is there any other food that can evoke quite the same response from people, or conjure up such a variety of words? Sexy. Indulgent. Luxurious. Naughty. Celebratory. Unhealthy. Healthy. (Cocoa beans have around 250 nutrients that are beneficial to the human body!) When the ancient Mayans discovered the delights of cocoa over 3000 years ago, it was pre-destined to become an important part of our culture today. It is easily my favourite ingredient to eat, and the most exciting/daunting to work with. The perfect balance between art, and science. Most people aren't aware of the precision required to get great results; you can't necessarily just melt chocolate and start using it 'willy-nilly'. The 'tempering' process requires you to reach specific temperatures, within fractions of a degree, to achieve that perfect shine and satisfying crack you get from the very best quality chocolate. People devote their whole lives trying to master the art of the chocolatier, tirelessly exploring new methods and flavour combinations, and it was these people that I went in search of last month.

Paul A. Young's Brownie Mince Pies, a delicious chocolatey twist to a Christmas classic 

 The Chocolate Festival at London's Southbank is a Mecca for any serious chocoholic, and this year it was my turn to make the pilgrimage. Now in it's 9th year, it has grown to hold dozens of stalls and a decent-sized exhibition tent, with a variety of shops, suppliers, and expert chefs showing off their craft and the fruits of their labour. Names such as Valrhona, L’Artisan du Chocolat, Demarquette, and Paul A. Young, epitomise the very best in the business. Most have free samples for you to try....but they're never enough, and you soon find yourself opening your wallet to sample even more of their delights.

A variety of brownies and blondies

Centre ones are white chocolate and cherry, with salted caramel. Yum!

White chocolate with mango & passionfruit

David Muniz of 'Outsider Tart' had everybody drooling over his Chocolate Pie

One of the things I'm always keen to try is chocolate being used in savoury dishes. I'm the first person to dismiss something as 'food for food's sake', but with careful skill chocolate can be a great ingredient to enrich chilli con carne, stews, game dishes, savoury sauces, and many more. So, I was drawn to the smells coming from a certain stall offering South American dishes, and opted to try their 'Mole Poblano Wrap' - slow cooked chicken in a tomato, chilli, and chocolate sauce, served with guacamole and sour cream in a tortilla wrap. Now I have to be honest, after the amount of chocolate I had just eaten, ANYTHING I put in my mouth would have tasted of chocolate. But regardless of whether the subtle flavour was coming from the sauce inside my wrap, or the chocolate lining inside (and all around the outside) of my mouth....the combination was fantastic! The sweetness beautifully balances against the fiery chilli, and adds a wonderful depth of flavour. Like in the best savoury chocolate dishes, it isn't the primary ingredient, but is there to enhance and compliment all the existing flavours.

Chicken Mole Poblano

The finished article, with Mexican rice, guacamole, and sour cream

As if this wasn't enough chocolate for one weekend, I decided to drop by a luxury chocolate shop in Notting Hill I had heard mentioned several times, called 'Melt'. What makes this place unique is not only do they use the very best, natural ingredients, but they have an open plan shop; you can watch the chocolates being hand-made, then pick up a wooden tray and a pair of tongs, and select your own favourites to take to the till.

Melt, set in the quirky shopping area of
Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill

(image taken from www.meltchocolates.com)

They have some interesting flavour combinations, such as Peanut Butter & Raspberry Jam (a take on the peanut butter & jelly sandwich), Passion Fruit Caramel, Green Tea (an acquired taste), and something I had never come across before - Tonka Bean. Native to Central and South America, tonka beans are small black pods, with seeds inside that have a unique flavour reminiscent of vanilla, almond, cinnamon, and clove. Discovering new ingredients to play with is always something that excites me, and I will no doubt be having a play with these little gems soon.

In case all this talk about chocolate has left you feeling inspired (and hungry), I thought it would only be fair to leave you with a recipe for you to try at home. Chocolate truffles are one of the easiest things to make, and are the perfect end to a dinner party, or a hand-made gift for someone special. You don't even need to make any extra effort to give yours an interesting twist of flavour. Companies such as 'Green & Blacks' have already done the work for you; with bars such as 'Spiced Chilli', 'Ginger', and 'Espresso' - and it was with my left over bar of 'Maya Gold', and the last drops of Christmas port, that I had an idea...

My simple Mulled Port Chocolate Truffle

Mulled Port Chocolate Truffles

Adding alcohol is a great way of making a chocolate truffle more decadent. The orange, cinnamon, & nutmeg in a bar of Maya Gold is the perfect marriage with the fruity port; taking you back to those hot, steaming glasses of mulled wine over the festive period. 

This is a very basic recipe, with the fewest ingredients possible, just to get you started.

Ingredients (makes 12 truffles)

1 x 100g bar of Green & Blacks Maya Gold, broken in to small pieces

70ml Whipping cream

15g Golden caster sugar

20ml Good quality port

Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting (Have ready in a bowl for rolling the truffles in)

• Add the cream and sugar to a small saucepan, and gently bring to simmering point. 
• Take off the heat immediately, and pour over the chocolate in a mixing bowl. Stir gently until the chocolate has completely melted and you have a smooth ganache. Place in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours.
• Once set, remove from the fridge and use a teaspoon to scoop out around 12 even pieces. Place these on to a cold plate.
• Lightly dust your hands in the cocoa powder, and roll the truffles in to balls (or any other shape you wish), and place in to the bowl of cocoa powder.
• Gently roll the truffle around in the cocoa powder with a fork until fully coated.
• Repeat with the rest of the truffles. You can then store them in the bowl of cocoa powder, placed in the fridge until ready to use. Then, just lightly shake off the excess cocoa powder, and they are ready to eat. They will keep for up to a week in the fridge....but we all know that isn't going to happen.

Make sure you use a bowl large enough to be
able to move the truffles around freely in.

If you don't have any port, what other spirits/liqueurs do you have left over from Christmas? There are so many possible combinations, be creative! Just remember to reduce the amount you add to the recipe depending on the strength of your spirit/liqueur, and replace the missing quantity with cream, so that you end up with a nice, soft truffle.

What will your signature truffle flavour be?