Instant Holiday Appetizer: Everything Bagel-Inspired Sushi Rolls

Show: Chopped
Sushi Rolls

Chopped Dinner Challenge The Chopped Dinner Challenge is a series of recipes showing you how easy it is to cook like a winning Chopped competitor. Every week, FN Dish will showcase a recipe created by Food Network Kitchens that uses at least one of the Chopped basket ingredients, plus basic grocery goods and simple staples. Consider it your very own Chopped challenge. Just take this frequent tip from the judges: Don’t forget to season!

For this week's Chopped Dinner Challenge, the chefs of Food Network Kitchens chose to feature the basket ingredient of smoked salmon, which many people will recognize as a favorite bagel topping. The idea of that popular combination became the inspiration for this recipe. If you love salmon sushi and/or bagels with smoked salmon, then you're sure to love this recipe that fuses the two. This dish makes a great Japanese-inspired meal for four, especially a family of adventurous eaters. However, for an even better idea, serve these Everything Bagel Sushi Rolls as a party appetizer — your guests will be impressed.

The key to any good piece of sushi is the rice — sushi rice to be specific. And this recipe starts off with its preparation, which isn't that difficult at all; it's much like cooking regular rice. The secret is rinsing the rice several times before cooking and, once cooked, seasoning it with the vinegar-sugar-salt mixture. Then you mix together the cream cheese, carrots and scallions. Now you're ready to make sushi.

You'll want to start by spreading one-fourth of the cooked rice onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Next, lay down a single layer of salmon, then spread the cream cheese mixture on. Finally, roll up the sheet to create the sushi roll, remove the plastic wrap and you're ready to form the remaining three rolls. Combine onion flakes, sesame seeds, dried garlic and poppy seeds for the everything mix to dust onto the rolls — or you can use shichimi togarashi for a Japanese flair. Then simply cut each roll into eight pieces and serve with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger. This quick and easy recipe would make an exciting addition to your holiday spread.

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