Spicy Salmon Maki with Honey-Soy Glaze

Everyone loves sushi but for some reason we all think it's relatively unapproachable to make at home. Yesterday afternoon, our 6 year old daughter, Caroline made her own sushi roll. She got to choose which vegetables went inside, patted the rice into place, and rolled away! Below we're going to walk you through how we made this Spicy Salmon Maki with Honey-Soy Glaze. Learning how to make at sushi at home will not only save you money, but can be a really fun activity for kids and adults alike.



What you'll need to make sushi:

- Sushi Mat

- 2 Cups of uncooked Sushi Rice 

- 2 Cups Water, Cold

- 1/4 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar

- 4 Tbl Sugar

- 1 Tbl Salt

- 1 Pack Nori Seaweed Paper 

- Leftover Smoked Salmon

- 2 Jalapeños, Julienned

- 1/4 Cup of Julienned English Cucumber

- 1 Avocado, thinly sliced

- IT SAUCE Pickled Red Onions (optional)

- IT SAUCE Honey-Soy Glaze, for dipping/drizzling

-Wasabi (optional)

Steps of How to Roll Sushi

1. Rice uncooked rice for 2-3 minutes in a strainer, until water runs clear.

2. In a sauce pot, add two cups of rice and two cups of water. Bring to boil.

3. Once the rice/water starts to rapid boil, turn the heat down as low as possible, cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes. Do not open the lid. 

4. After 20 minutes, take all rice and put in a large mixing bowl. Try to spread the rice around to cool as quickly as possible. 

5. In a separate bowl, combine rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. 

6. After the rice has cooled for 10 minutes, add vinegar mixture and mix to combine completely. 

7. Once all of your vegetables are chopped and you have all ingredients in front of you, lay out your sushi mat with a piece of Nori on top.

8. Grab a ball of rice with wet hands and start spreading on the nori leaving the top and bottom free of rice for proper sealing. (about .5-1 inch)

9. Once you have a nice, even layer of rice, place your chosen vegetables in a straight line approximately 1/4 of the way up from the bottom of the nori paper. 

10. Wet the top end of the nori paper. 

11. The first roll is the most important roll. From the bottom carefully roll your nori paper over the vegetables meeting the rice on the other side of veggies. Squeeze tightly on the sushi mat. 

12. Continue gradually rolling and squeezing as you roll further, ensuring the roll is tight. 

13. With a wet knife, cut your sushi roll in half, and then in half twice more to get 8 pieces. 

14. We chose to put the smoked salmon on top as a nice garnish, but you can opt to put it inside the roll, or change out any ingredients you'd like!