For my monthly Wine & Dine event tonight, we're highlighting Japanese cuisine and sake. I made the following dish to share and it came out wonderful. I love making maki at home because it's not only more fun, it's much more affordable too!

Spicy Scallop Maki is one of my favorites when I dine out for sushi. To prepare this at home, I chopped up some fresh scallops and had them marinate in a bit of rice wine and lemon juice... reminiscent of a ceviche to help "cook" the scallops. Instead of traditional white sushi rice, I opted for brown rice and added some black sesame seeds. To beef up my maki, I included thinly sliced cucumber, slices of an egg omelette and topped my rolls with a homemade spicy sauce.


For sushi rice:
1 cup brown rice, freshly cooked
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoons sugar

Prepare your brown rice as directed on the package.
When the rice is done and still hot, add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine; cool.


For scallops:
1 cup fresh scallops, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons rice wine
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine the scallops with the remaining ingredients in a small bowl; set aside for 15 minutes.


For maki filling:
5 sheets nori
1/2 cucumber, seeded and sliced into thin strips
1 egg omelette, cooled and cut into thin strips
1 avocado, pitted and sliced thinly; tossed with fresh lemon juice

Prepare the above ingredients and have it ready, making it easy to fill.
Be sure to have avocado slices gingerly tossed with the lemon juice to prevent browning.


For spicy sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp hot chili sauce (Sriracha)
1 tbsp hot sesame oil

Combine ingredients in a small bowl and place in a squeeze bottle; set aside.


To assemble:

Place one sheet of nori on a bamboo rolling mat.
Take 1/5 of the rice mixture and evenly scatter it on top of the nori.
On the end closest to you, place a spoonful of the scallop mixture in a line on top of the rice, across the bottom.
Top with strips of omelette, cucumber and 2 slices of avocado.
Using the bamboo rolling mat, carefully roll up the nori with the fillings inside. Be careful to not overfill so that the contents don't spill out the ends.
The key is to keep the roll nice and tight and when fully rolled, place it on a platter, seam side down.
Repeat with the other sheets of nori until all the ingredients are used up.
Assemble your sushi on a serving platter. Before serving, take the squeeze bottle of the spicy mayonnaise sauce and drizzle it over the top.
Sprinkle black sesame seeds over the sauce for garnish.