Smoked Salmon Salad Omusubi

Using your favorite recipe, (see note below) cook your sushi rice and be sure to reserve a couple of tablespoons of the sushi vinegar-sugar liquid in a small bowl. Set sushi rice aside to cool off. 

In a small mixing bowl, add your ACME salmon salad, bonito flakes, lemon juice and salt. Thoroughly fold until it’s evenly mixed. Strain out extra liquid or moisture from the salad (see note below), then put back into it’s bowl. Set next to your sushi rice. 

Wet your fingers and palms with either sushi vinegar or water, eyeball about a quarter cup of sushi rice, loosely shape into a round patty using both hands, but don’t over press the rice. Hold the patty on one hand, then using the opposite hand’s thumb, press a large indentation into the patty. Grab about a teaspoon of salmon salad and place into the indentation. Lightly mold the edges of your rice patty over the salmon salad til the rice fully covers all the salmon and it looks like a rice ball. When finished, place rice onto a plate or tray. (If this step is too difficult or confusing, thoroughly mix sushi rice with salmon salad, and mold salmon rice into quarter cup rounds.)

With your choice of toppings, either sprinkle it on top of rice rounds, then holding it to press it further into the rice. Or you can pour the toppings onto separate plates, and roll the rounds into it. Have fun with the toppings! You can even blend two toppings together for extra texture and flavor. Place all topped rolls onto a new, clean plate. 

Fold your nori sheets in half, long ways. Cut against the folded seem if needed, otherwise it should easily split in two. Trim about 1-1.5 inches from one end, so the length is about 6 inches long and about 2 inches wide. For extra toasty flavor and crisp texture, see note below.  Grab one nori sheet, hold flat in palm of your hand, place rice right into the middle of it. Press the nori against the sides of the rice so it holds it like a taco. Set back on your plate. Repeat for a couple more rice rounds, but you can also serve some rice rounds without. Now you’re ready to eat!