Kansas City is known to many as Cowtown or the BBQ Capital of the World.  With more than 100 barbeque restaurants, eating barbeque in this city is a way of life passed on from generation to generation.

While BBQ will forever be the staple cuisine of this city, there is a new kid on the block in the KC area. This cuisine has substituted ribs, burnt ends and BBQ sauce with rice, fish, and wasabi. That’s right– we’re talking about Sushi. While it’s safe to say that you can’t find 100 sushi restaurants in KC, it can’t be ignored that raw sea critters and spicy tuna are satisfying more Kansas Citians than ever before.

Sushi in Kansas City has hit the ground running with more and more restaurants popping up around the metro area.  But unlike mouth-watering BBQ, there seems to be a definite love/hate relationship towards the rice covered raw seafood. On one side of the table are the addicted raw-fish advocates who can’t get enough of the bite sized delights.  On the other side are those who simply believe that food should not be eaten “half-alive.” Regardless where your taste buds stand for these rolled culinary creations, you can’t help but try Sushi at least once.  As I always say, once you try a California Roll you’ll keep coming back for more.  Before you know it, your sushiphobia will disappear!

We went around in search of some finger-lickin’ good sushi in Kansas City, and this is what we came up with:

Best Happy Hour Sushi: Kona GrillThis Plaza favorite not only has great sushi and a variety of American dishes, but it’s also a great spot for grabbing a drink or two. When it comes to their rolls, take your time to look the menu over because they offer a diverse assortment of sashimi and rolls. The Volcano Roll is sure to bring you back time and again. A note to the wise, impatient and hungry– you may want to make reservations unless you enjoy waiting 90 minutes to be seated for dinner. There’s a lot of traffic at this restaurant, especially on the weekends.

Best Sushi Rolls: Sushi House & Jun’sIf you’re looking for some excellent Sushi in a great setting then don’t miss out on Sushi House in Town Center. The Spicy Temptation Roll is sure to tempt your taste buds and the Tropical Roll is anything but Midwest.  A full bar and menu of teriyaki, noodles, tempura, and bento boxes is also offered for lunch and dinner. If you want private dining that is relaxed, take off your shoes and try out one of Sushi House’s private rooms.  This place has such amazing sushi that you actually forget you’re eating in a strip mall in Leawood.

Another great place for delicious rolls is Jun’s Japanese in Prarie Village.  Enjoy tempting tempura, sukiyaki, sashimi or hamachi.  Order a bit of sake to wash everything down, and you’re all set.

Best Sushi for Beginners: NaraIf you’re a little weary about diving into the depths of sushi, then Nara is a great choice.  At Nara, there’s an assortment of menu items, ranging from Wakko Noodles to Lemon Grass Chicken to the Kobe Burger. Sushi beginners can try the Philadelphia Roll– anything with cream cheese is automatically a good thing!  Aside from the diverse menu, the bar and outdoor seating make dining at Nara a great night out.

Best Place for a Sushi/Steakhouse Compromise: Ichiban Not quite sure if you want sushi or steak?  Well don’t worry– you can have both at Ichiban in Westport. Ichiban Steakhouse and Sushi Bar serves up great entertainment right before your eyes no matter what you order. But if it is Sushi that you are craving, try the Plaza Roll and the Casper Roll both excellent choices, you won’t be disappointed.

Best Cheap n’ Good Sushi: Friend’s Sushi & Bento BoxIf you’re craving good sushi but on a tight budget, then try Friend’s Sushi & Bento Box, especially on Monday night. The sushi is just $1 per piece and select rolls just $3.99.

Best Neighborhood Sushi: DomoIf you’re looking for some Einstein bagels, then you’ve come to the wrong place because you will now find Domo in this Brookside location.  Perhaps their Philadelphia Roll will satisfy your cream cheese cravings. If you’re looking for a wide assortment of traditional nigiri and exotic maki rolls then you should definitely try Domo out.

Best Date Sushi: MatsuThis great restaurant located in trendy Westport is just the place to have a quaint and relaxed sushi meal for two.  The truly adventurous leave their culinary fate in the hands of the Sushi chef by selecting the Matsu special.  The chef chooses a sample of raw and cooked sushi, sashimi and rolls.  What are you craving?  You better be ready for salmon, tuna, crab, caviar, snapper, eel or alligator!

Check out these other great KC area Sushi restaurants:Kyoto Sushi & Steak HouseIzumi Japanese Steak & SushiJins SushiKatoKC SushiKokoro ExpressMaui ExpressSushi GinSushi HaruSushi StationWa (Lawrence, KS)

Let’s face it-sushi or sashimi can be either the most delicious thing you have ever put in your mouth or horrible.  People either love the idea of eating out of the sea raw fish or shutter and grimace at the thought.

As a fan of this cuisine, I have tried several places within Orange County, California.  Let’s face it you stay where you are most comfortable and for me, the “OC” has been home for all but the first 5 years of my life.  My entire family-even the newly teenaged niece and nephew have an affinity for the freshest and best of japanese “good eats”.

These were some of our favorites:

O-nami’s Seafood Buffet located in the Laguna Hills Mall.  It is a buffet, but the restaurant has an attentive wait staff, so you never have a table full of dirty, empty dishes hanging around.  Drinks are forever being re-filled without looking around.  At any given time there are over 40 types of sushi being freshly prepared right in front of you.  They also have an extensive hot food section, salad section and even a dessert bar.  This enables everyone-non raw fish lovers included-to go home more than satisfied.  Thankfully the mall is there for before and after exercising!

You and I Sushi in Laguna Hills.  While not a buffet, this small strip mall family-run venue has a version of it by giving you one hour and a check off menu.   We all have but one thing to say however, while the food has always been quite good, the service here is quite spotty.  One visit had them second guessing us by serving us some of our favorites before we even got into our chairs, while another time we had nary a bite after the one hour limit, at which point they served everything on our personalized menu to our table within 15 minutes!

Osaka’s Japanese Restaurant in Laguna Niguel.  This is quite the hopping place!   Beside offering a sushi bar with a very helpful master of the art, there is also a teppan area.  We’ve done both.  The food is excellent, great for celebrating a special occasion-especially the teppan side where the show is deftly performed by very talented chefs.  Because it’s located right outside the popular  Nellie Gail area, you have a very upscale crowd populating this restaurant.

California Beach Sushi in Newport Beach has been around since 1985.  It’s a rather typical glitzy spot for this part of the county.

I Love Sushi Japanese Restaurant in Costa Mesa has been around and  considered to be one of the county’s most beloved institutions for this cuisine.  Nothing too fancy, but just plain good.

Osu’s in Westminster is another stalwart of the county’s-I remember my father loving their miso soup and sushi back when I was in college-in the mid-’70’s.  It’s a bit dark for my taste, but the decor and the good food, as well as the service, has never waned.

Again, sushi and sashimi is a love it or hate it type of cuisine, but the great thing about all of the above mentioned is that they all serve the traditional cooked Japanese fare as well.

Ask any weight-training fundi what they consider essential to muscle gains and the response grunted will most certainly mention a high protein diet. However, protein shakes and supplements don’t have to be your only source of high quality protein to feed those rippling muscles of yours. Instead, treat yourself to a low calorie, low fat, and nutritious snack that is high in protein and made entirely from natural ingredients – Sushi.

The health benefits found in sushi and sashimi are unrivalled, this is due to the raw fish used (i.e. salmon, tuna etc) being fresh, uncooked and rich in B vitamins, proteins, omega-3 fatty acids (essential to a healthy heart and aid in a glowing skin complexion). Even the most fatty fish used, namely salmon and eel, contain fewer than 200 calories per 100g which is around half of what you’d get from a cooked steak.

The following is a list of a few of the most common sushi types you may come across, and their nutritional information:

California Rolls    Per large piece (60g):

Protein = 1.1 g      Total Fat = 0.6 g      Total Carbohydrates = 7.2 g

Tuna Sashimi   Per large piece (60g fish only):

Protein = 3.5 g      Total Fat = 1.5 g      Total Carbohydrates = 7.0 g

Salmon Sashimi   Per medium piece (50g fish only):

Protein = 1.8 g      Total Fat = 1.0 g      Total Carbohydrates = 7.0 g

Maki Sushi   Per medium piece (30g):

Protein = 1.0 g      Total Fat = 1.0 g      Total Carbohydrates = 2.0 g

Nigiri Sushi   Per large piece (80g):

Protein = 4.0 g      Total Fat = 0.5 g      Total Carbohydrates = 12 g

Source: calorieking.com 01/08/07

Enjoying The Sushi Experience  Like any other food, sushi is meant to be enjoyed. So don’t feel bad if you find yourself slapping on enough wasabi to send a Russian satellite into orbit, if that’s how you like it – go ahead and enjoy yourself.

Chopstix:  The best way to enjoy sushi is by using your hands, this will also allow your sushi chef to roll them a bit more loosely and means you can enjoy the stuff in true Japanese tradition. So if you’re really struggling, drop those ‘stix’ like a bad habit, and just get in there with your hands.

Pickled Ginger:  As tempting as it is whack a sliver of this stuff onto your sushi, don’t! It’s really there to cleanse the palette and ‘wipe away’ the taste after each mouthful, resulting in tastes and flavours not being mixed into one another.

Wasabi (Japanese horse radish):  This is to be added to your soy dish and ‘dissolved’ into it, but may also be spread onto the sushi to give it that punch. Wasabi is also a very high source of Vitamin C.

This has to be the most enjoyable and downright tasty methods of eating healthily and nourishing your body at the same time. Notice how sushi will give you an incredibly ‘light’ feeling whilst still filling you up, and with significantly less carbohydrates than that of a pasta or potato dish. Sushi is becoming more and more readily available, and you will notice that platters and take-away boxes can be bought from your local supermarket, with the quality being just as good as if your where sitting at a Japanese sushi bar.

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Being a sushi lover for more than 20 years, I had a great sushi experience at a quaint Japanese restaurant in Claremont, California.  Chef Hiro puts the sparkle in the gem that is Nogi Sushi for the city of Claremont.  Trained in Japan, Chef Hiro hand picks his fresh seafood, and daily specials. One of my favorites specials is the Giant Clam.  Served in the shell sashimi style or sautйed (for those who like their seafood cooked), the Giant Clam is a treat not to be missed. I spoke with Chef Hiro, and I asked what he likes about his Job.”I love the customer that comes in and ask me to create something for them.  I always try to come up with something special for that customer, so they have a connection to comeback.”Along with creating a rapport with his customers, he greets every customer that walks in with a hardy Asian greeting.  When customers leave he often says “I’ll see you tomorrow.” as a way to not say good bye, but invite them back.  He loves to interact with his customers, his English is accented, but understandable, and I’ve heard him hold fluent conversations in both Japanese, and Chinese.  He also understands some Spanish, and will mix in Spanish phrases with customers that speak it to him.The sushi menu is loaded with traditional sushi like various types of tuna, salmon, eel, and many types of cut and hand rolls. Every once and while he’ll have seasonal specials like barracuda, striped bass, various kinds of oysters or something else that is unique. You can also quench your thirst with a cold Japanese beer, hot or cold Sake, a house red or white wine, or a sweet plum wine.Not only does Nogi Sushi offer a menu that can satisfy any sushi lovers taste buds, but they also offer an appetizing menu of fully cooked foods. They offer various type of Tempura, curry, and teriyaki plates complete with soup and salad. Something unique they have that is great for kids, is a Japanese soda called “Ramunй” It has a pinched neck bottle that is sealed with a glass marble.  This design limits the amount of liquid available in the chamber so it slows down the drinking process.  Just don’t ask to take out the marble, it can’t be done without breaking the bottle, which is not recommended.

The world of authentic Japanese eating can seem shrouded in mystery.  Between the omakase mystery fish and your fear of accidentally eating blowfish, you too often resort to tuna maki.  Not at Namiko’s, you won’t.  The cuisine, style, impeccable service, and newly redesigned space at Denver’s most popular sushi spot will reel you in.

Upon entering, you can’t help but notice the sleek bar anchored with a striking salt water fish tank and Denver urbanites nursing their favorite cocktail.  Vibrant rich aquamarine colored walls and contrasting breezy images of sea life masterfully placed through out, secure, embrace, and guide you into the main dining area.  Friendly sushi chefs chat to patrons who sip sake flights at the sushi bar and blend with the sounds of the smooth jazz in the background. World class service is the standard – without exception.

Sit at the sushi bar and order sushi and Japanese cuisine just the way you like it.  Sure they’ve got the basics (tuna, yellowtail, and shrimp) but they also excel in twists on the traditional like firecracker shrimp or the Blazing Pearl Scallops. Try the kitchen’s feather-light veggie tempura gently fried in soy bean salad oil. It is “golden white” in color – a sign of freshness.

And don’t be shy when it comes to the rolls.  My personal favorite is the caterpillar roll, which contains fresh chunks of avocado and eel that melt in your mouth like butta.   Ask for super-fresh sashimi like tuna, salmon and yellow tail.  Down them all, then wonder how they manage to taste so straight-from-the-sea.

Now that is our kind of mystery.

What kind of gifts do you get for dedicated sushi fanatics?  Sushi gifts of course!  These days it seems nearly everyone you meet is fanatical about sushi.  And if you are not personally a fan of Japanese cuisine, chances are you know someone who is.

The fact is, sushi tends to polarize people — you either love it or you hate it. Those who hate it will normally refuse to even give it a try; while those who love it tend to be as fanatical as a religious zealot!

That’s why these gifts are perfect for the sushi lover in your life.  In this article we will cover five unique gifts that will have the recipient’s eyes lighting up bigger than a tuna roll!  Now let’s get started.

1. Clothes: Believe it or not, you can now purchase sushi apparel for people of all ages and both genders.  From T-shirts and hats with sushi designs, to stylish tie clips, you’ll find designs for all ages.  Some specialty boutiques even offer underwear, panties and g strings.

2.  Chocolate: Yes, you can now purchase candy sushi, and although these do not contain rice or raw fish, they are sure to please, and come in a variety of different sweet styles.  The most popular candies at this time are the chocolate morsels.  The idea may sound silly, but it is quickly catching on, and it won’t be long before chocolate sushi is popping up in every neighborhood.  Why not jump on the bandwagon early and buy someone a unique chocolate gift today?

3. Custom Chopsticks: every dedicated sushi fanatic needs their own personal chopsticks.  After all, a real aficionado should not be caught dead eating with the cheap chopsticks wrapped in paper which are given away in restaurants.  Instead, give the fanatic in your life a hand-carved set of chopsticks.  These are available in a variety of materials, from exotic hardwoods, to beautiful stone chopsticks and even ivory or jade.  For the finishing touch, you can even have initials engraved on the side of the sticks. Classy, eh?

4. Pillows: for the hard-core sushi fanatic in your life, why not let them take sushi to bed with them at night?  Sushi pillows are shaped exactly like a delicious roll, and are lots of fun as well as being comfortable.  How popular are these fishy bedtime buddies?  Here’s a clue: this year’s Grammy awards gift baskets included original pillows.  Enough said?

5. A Home Sushi Making Kit: The absolute best gift to give  — wait for it — the opportunity to eat sushi more often!  This is exactly what you’re giving when you get someone a make your own Kit.  There are lots of different kits available, but the best ones tend to be comprehensive, and include virtually everything necessary to make your own restaurant-grade rolls, except of course, the raw fish.  Home making kids are also very reasonably priced, and are sure to thrill the fanatics in your life.

So there you have it; the five hottest sushi gifts available– guaranteed to spice up the recipient’s life like a hot plate of Wasabi!

If you are not the biggest fan about sushi, you are not the only one. What I do not understand is why people say they do not like sushi when they have not even tried it before. As with most foods, there are several variations and different ways to cook it. All it takes is a little bit of courage to try out the different variations and who knows, you may find something that you like.

Sushi is one of the best nutritional sources available to us, which may be one reason people are turned off by it. There are some people that have it in their head that all health food is going to taste bad. Others may be turned off by the fact that it is seafood. But sushi is packed with lean protein, nutrients, and is low in fat.

A couple of other healthy parts to sushi are the seaweed wrap, wasabi and ginger. The seaweed wrap, which is called nori, is rich with vitamins and minerals that get lost with many other kinds of foods. As for wasabi and ginger, they contain antibacterial qualities and ginger also aids digestion and improves circulation.

By now you get the point that sushi is good for you, but that does not make it appetizing to everyone. However, there are hundreds of recipes for making sushi that many people are unwilling to learn about. There is the basic hand rolled sushi and vegetable hand rolled sushi, but there are several ways to get unique while making sushi.

One fantastic recipe worth trying out is smoked salmon and jicama maki sushi rolls. While the recipe is not complex at all, I recommend going to www.foodnetwork.com to find the exact recipe. But some of the items that are in the recipe include sushi rice, smoked salmon strips, jicama strips, and eight sheets of nori. When you are finished making it, you will have delicious rolls filled with flavor and packed with nutrition.

If you are not a big fish fan, try out somen sushi noodle with wasabi oil and soy syrup. This is a little more complex to make, but worth it when it is cooked. As with the recommendation above, you can find the recipe at the food network online. Some of the main ingredients you will find with this dish are a half pound of somen noodles, chopped scallions, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and wasabi oil.

Not everyone is going to be a big fan of sushi, and there are plenty of people that probably hate it. But try to muster up the courage to try the different variations and recipes out there, because it can be one of the better kinds of seafood you will try. Just because it is seafood and healthy for you, it does not mean you will not like sushi. So give it a chance.

Part 2 of my sushi special will have a rather different feel, because part 2 of preparing sushi has a rather different feel. Now, when I’m cooking I’m fairly high-energy. I zoom around, I kick cupboards shut, slam drawers, and I never put anything down carefully if I can throw it instead. I have learned from bitter experience that this mood doesn’t work for sushi, at all. I’m not going to get all pretentious about the exact correct way to prepare food – this isn’t nouveau cuisine. But sushi is fundamentally fiddly and precise, and it needs a bit of concentration.

For that matter, the mood and attention needed to prepare sushi can be really fulfilling. It’s a characteristically Sino/Japanese approach, taking considerable time and care in a (relatively) simple activity, and thereby transforming it into an experience of meditation and calm magic. The same approach is shown (although more so) in the tea ceremony, where every fold of clothing must lie in the right position, every individual movement of the hands much be precise, every pause perfect. It’s pretty breathtaking.

So shhhhh….listen closely.

I’m just going to cover making the basic maki (roll) today. Once you’ve got that down you can do anything. I used to jump around and try all kinds of different shapes, but last year I decided I was going to concentrate on learning to do just basic maki, as well as possible, so that’s what I’ll be talking about here. There are plenty of guides knocking around the net on all sorts of different sushi shapes, you can look them up for yourself.

First, you’ll want to have everything you need ready and neatly arranged. Pre-chop all your vegetables into thin strips (I use carrot, cucumber, scallions, peppers and mushroom usually), and where necessary shell, bone, clean and/or chop your fish and seafood. I use smoked salmon trims because they’re delicious and cheap and the misshapes don’t matter in rolls, prawns, seafood sticks, mussels, cod, snapper, all sorts. Best are things with a strong taste like the smoked salmon and prawns, milder fish like cod don’t create such a strong contrast of flavors.

Your rice should be ready and cooled, and you’ll want to cover it with a damp tea-towel so it doesn’t dry out while you’re working. Have a tablespoon sitting in a mug of water, which you’ll use to scoop the rice out. Keep it in the mug when you’re not using it, if it’s dry the rice will start to stick and accumulate into a giant lump. Not good. Wipe down your surface so it’s spotless, and arrange everything so you can reach it.

At this point, I’ve found the way to get best results and the most enjoyment from the process is to make sure your mind is really clear, you’re calm and not thinking about other things. Whatever you do, don’t try to make sushi in a rush or when your head is messed up, you’ll mess it up and just end up frustrated. I actually turn off any music I’ve got playing, sit down and do five minutes of meditation, just focussing on my breathing and excluding the rest of the world. Sounds over the top I know, but this is a process – and a food – worthy of that bit of time. In a sense the time you put into it makes it special, making it worthy of the time. Make sense?

Now you’re ready to start. Take a sheet of nori, and place it shinier-side-down on the surface (it should try to roll up towards you if you’ve got it right). I put my smaller knife along the top edge to stop it rolling up as I lay the rice down.

Take a couple of tablespoons of the vinegared rice with your (wet) tablespoon, and spread them evenly on the lower half-and-a-bit of the nori sheet. Then add strips of seafood and some veggies, whatever you feel will go well together. At this point you need to be working steadily – don’t rush, you don’t have to be fast, but keep moving, because the nori sheet will absorb moisture from the rice and get a bit soggy, and it won’t be as easy to roll.

Press down on the fish and vegetables with all your fingers, pushing them gently down into the rice to hold the roll still. Then, use your thumbs to bring the bottom of the nori sheet up and over, and start the roll. Once it’s rolling, grip the whole length of it using all your fingers and keep squeezing it gently as you roll it, moving your fingers backward and forward just a little to keep it reasonably even, and gripping firmly. This makes sure it stays tight. It’s all in the practice, folks.

Once you’ve got just a centimeter of unrolled nori left, dip your thumbs in the mug of water and run them back and forth along the excess bit, pressing firmly. Remoisten if necessary. This will make that strip of seaweed wet and sticky. It’ll actually start to rub off a bit under your thumbs. Then, grip the roll again and roll it forward over the end, then back and forth a few times, pressing firmly. If you do it right, it’ll seal tight.

Put your rolls in the fridge until you’ve got them all done. They’ll relax and seal a bit better while they’re there. You don’t want to keep them around for too long before eating, though, as they get a bit rubbery after a few hours.

Finally, the cut. This is where a really razor-sharp shallow-edged blade like a Global comes in really handy. If my Global hasn’t been sharpened in the last week, I sharpen it before making sushi. You want to be able to cut by just moving the blade back and forth, almost no pressure but its own weight. That makes sure you don’t squash the roll out of shape.

And the only thing left to do is present your sushi with panache. Lay the rolls out artistically, with a little bowl for a mixture of soy sauce and wasabi (japanese green horseradish). For extra joy, accompany it with strong drink served in small cups (but finish all your cutting first).A few final notes: I’m not trying to claim this is genuine, authentic sushi, or in any way expert. I’ve made sushi maybe 20 or 30 times. My expertise is such that a real sushi chef might not beat me to death on seeing me work. These guys are serious, they train for years and their precision is extraordinary. But it’s pretty good for what you can do at home with a reasonable amount of time and basic ingredients.

I was originally inspired and instructed by Hutch’s now-legendary Mensa sushi guide. It’s well worth a read. I’ve gathered tips and bits from all over the place, but this method is the result of my own experimentation – I’ve tried and eliminated the bamboo mat and various other complications, this is just what works for me.

As usual, your mileage may vary, and I heartily recommend you experiment for yourself. With a bit of time and preparation, anyone can make sushi, and it’ll more than repay your effort.

Let’s talk about Japan’s greatest creation, just barely edging out Ghost in the Shell, bento, Otsuka Ai, Iron Chef, comedy routines based on torturing Morning Musume and Pocky. Sushi!

First, we have to clear up one of the most common misunderstandings in multicultural culinary experience. Sushi is a category of traditional Japanese food consisting mainly of rice mixed with seasoned vinegar, seaweed, vegetables and either cooked or raw fish. The fish doesn’t have to be raw, people! In Japan raw fish is more often used, but it’s still perfectly “authentic” using cooked. Actually, till now I’ve held a general rule that I won’t eat raw fish unless I’m somewhere on the coast, but lately I’ve heard from a lot of people saying that this is mainly a paranoid fear story that we get fed, and raw fish off a fishmonger or supermarket shelf is quite safe to eat.

Anyway, on with the sushi thing. I’ll talk about ingredients and preparation today, and construction tomorrow, as I think this is a subject which deserves detailed attention.

First, you need the right rice. This is easier to obtain than you might have been told – a lot of places (I see it mostly in health food shops) sell “sushi rice” which is usually overpriced and not particularly special. I have made great sushi from this, from arborio rice (italian risotto rice), pudding rice and regular big huge economy bag short grain rice. As long as it’s short grain and cooked the right way, it’ll be fine.

“Cooked right” means cooked the way I’m about to tell you, no deviations. This method of rice cooking is 100% bullet-proof and 99% idiot-proof. It’s derived from the guidance of Yasuko-San, who is an actual bona fide Japanese mother. You do not mess with a Japanese mother when it comes to cooking rice. You shut up and cook the darn rice they way they tell you to. Actually I had to adjust the figures a bit because the rice we get over here has a different absorption ratio, but the principle still stands.

(for 2-3 people) Take one and a half cups of short grain rice, wash it till the water runs clean, and put it in a saucepan with 3 cups of water. The saucepan must have a tight-fitting lid. Now, put the saucepan on a medium heat, and simmer it for 15 minutes. DO NOT move the lid at any time or Yasuko-san will find you and beat you with her samoji*.

Now, crank the heat up to the top and cook the rice for 1 full minute. You should hear it start to sizzle at the bottom of the pan at the end of the minute. If you’re using electric hobs (as I am cursed with, living in a high-rise), have a hob preheated to high heat and just slide the pan over onto it. Then take it off the heat, with the lid STILL TIGHTLY ON, and let it stand for 10 minutes WITHOUT TOUCHING THE DARN LID.

Rice cooked in this way will have the perfect consistency, will need no draining (because all the water is absorbed), and actually tastes better. For long grain rice, it will be firm and smooth – with a quarter teaspoon of salt added to the boiling water, I’ll eat a plain bowl of white rice cooked this way with gusto. For short grain rice it will be sticky but the grains will keep their shape, perfect for sushi or rice balls. All hail Yasuko-san! Ganbatte! Ganbarimasu!

For the seasoned vinegar, combine a quarter cup of white wine vinegar (best of all rice wine vinegar), 1 and a half tablespoons of sugar and 3/4 teaspoon of salt in a small pan, and heat it just to boiling so it all dissolves. Once the rice has finished its 10 minutes rest, spread it out in a shallow container (I use my vertical-sided saute pan which is perfect) and drizzle the vinegar mixture over it, then dig it in well with a spatula or wooden spoon. Try not to squash the grains too much, you want them firm and well-shaped for perfect sushi.

Now you need to cool the rice before rolling. A real sushi chef would fan it by hand. Actually, scratch that, a real professional sushi chef would have one of his underpaid kitchen monkeys fan it by hand. Fortunately we have the benefits of modern technology, and an almost-total disregard for tradition. Stick it in front of an electric fan for about a minute, then dig it around with a spatula to bring the hot rice from the bottom to the top, and leave it there for another minute. This will leave the rice cool, and slightly drier (but still moist and sticky enough to shape well).

So you’ve got your rice ready, perfectly cooked and seasoned, awaiting your rolling skills. Now all that remains is the final transformation. Find out more tomorrow, as we venture deeper into the world of sushi! Thrills, spills and seaweed! There’s danger at every turn!

* Rice paddle