I say sushi, you think raw fish. This, perhaps, is the reason why the Japanese delicacy, unlike the noodle or the stir-fry, has not become a staple of British home cooking. But all that is about to change – at least if Yuki Gomi, 37, a Japanese sushi chef living in London, has anything to do with it. “In Japan, going to a sushi restaurant costs hundreds of pounds and is a real treat,” she says when we meet at her flat in Crystal Palace, south-east London. “But Japanese people make it at home all the time, usually without raw fish.” When a Japanese family goes for a picnic, sushi will always make an appearance – but smoked fish will also be used, which is less likely to spoil (salmon and mackerel are favourites). Children take sushi to school in their lunch boxes, made with tinned tuna. There are vegetarian options, including tamagoyaki, grilled egg sushi. “If you want to go the whole way and use raw fish,” says Gomi, “there are safe ways of doing it. If you have the confidence, you can make friends with a local fishmonger and get him to promise you that the fish can be eaten raw.

But the easiest way is to buy sushi-grade fish on the internet.” She recommends Kazari, which will deliver guaranteed sushi-grade fish to your door. Sushi is easy to make, extremely healthy and highly portable. It is also flexible; there are, Gomi says, “no rules”, and new combinations of fish or vegetables are waiting to be discovered. And when it is home-made, sushi can also be an impressive addition to a party. “It is simple, so long as you are precise,” she says. “Architects and surgeons make the best sushi.” Yuki Gomi encourages home cooks to find sushi-grade fish online (HEATHCLIFF O'MALLEY) Before thinking about the fish, however, it is important to get the rice right. It must be Japanese – which refers to the species rather than the country of origin – because it is high in starch, which makes it stickier than other varieties. Techniques for cooking perfect rice are closely guarded secrets for many Japanese chefs. Gomi, however, being “of a younger generation”, is happy to share her method, which she learnt from the masters (see right).

When the rice is ready, the creative part begins. First, Gomi demonstrates how to make temari. “When you go to a restaurant, you’ll probably have nigiri, rectangular slabs of rice with salmon or tuna on top,” she says. “Shaping the rice like that takes years of practice. Temari is the traditional home-made version, which is a lot easier.” Cutting a fillet of raw salmon is an art in itself (she points out that smoked salmon, mackerel or kipper can be substituted). Gomi uses a traditional yanagi-ba sushi knife, which is flat on one side and very thin; The trick, she says, is to hold your breath and make the cut in one movement, as if you are playing a violin. When the fish is sliced, she covers her left hand with cling film – an improvement on the traditional muslin – and lies a sliver of fish in the centre. A bolus of rice is placed on top, then the cling film is closed around it and twisted to make a tight sphere. When this is unwrapped, a ball-shaped piece of sushi is revealed, which can be garnished with sesame seeds, a sprig of parsley, or fish roe (tobiko).

Next, she makes the “inside-out roll”, also known as the “California roll”. For centuries, Japanese sushi roll had the nori (seaweed paper) on the outside. When it was introduced to California, however, the local chefs preferred to roll the sushi inside out so that the rice was on the outside. sushi take out yaletownThis was later exported back to Japan. jogos sushi cat 3She places a sheet of nori – she recommends the type produced by Clearspring (clearspring.co.uk) – on a board and covers it with a layer of rice. where can i buy sushi grade fish in londonThe rice is sprinkled with roe or sesame seeds, turned upside down onto a bamboo mat (available from Tesco, £1.99) and covered with cling film, before arranging the salmon and avocado, rolling, and slicing with a light sawing motion. jiro dreams of sushi full length

Lastly, Gomi introduces the temaki sushi, which she says is a great informal party option. In a large bowl, she mixes scallops, flying fish roe, mayonnaise and avocado. This, together with a bowl of sushi rice and another of sliced vegetables, is placed on the table with a stack of nori. curso sushiman bhGuests add the filling to the nori and roll it into a cone for instant, do-it-yourself sushi. seaweed for sushi nutrition“When I was a child and my mother said we were going to have sushi, I was always filled with excitement,” says Gomi. jiro dreams of sushi japanese title“I want to bring some of that excitement to Britain.” ’Sushi at Home’, by Yuki Gomi, is out now (Fig Tree; £18.99)ashimi, EU legislation, Fishmonger, sushi fish, sushi grade

Farmed Scottish Salmon for Sashimi and Sushi – No more freezing!Farmed salmon produced in the UK no longer has to be frozen before we eat it as Sashimi and Sushi.  Because the EU recognised that the risk of parasites in Atlantic salmon farmed in the UK is negligible. (Atlantic salmon is what we usually see in fishmongers.)  After all, freezing was all to do with killing off potential parasites.  It’s officialised in the amendments to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, introduced in late 2011. Steve Hardie of the Food Standards Agency in Scotland says “The previous EU freezing rules for fish intended to be eaten raw did not recognise the different risks associated with parasites in wild and farmed fish.  But we now have a specific freezing exemption for farmed fish that can be applied when certain criteria related to diet and production methods are met.” So how did this change come about? The EU regulations introduced back in 2006 required that fish for Sashimi and Sushi, i.e., fish to be consumed raw or nearly raw, must be frozen for more than 24 hours at certain temperatures. 

This was to protect us from getting ill by eating the parasites that may come in with fish.  The parasite in the spotlight in this case is Anisakis. In Japan, the home of Sashimi and Sushi, it is left to the experienced eyes of Sushi chefs to check and select parasite free fish.  In Europe, there aren’t enough experienced Sushi chefs around so one can understand the EU trying to protect the public. But the Scottish salmon producers were confident that their farmed salmon wouldn’t have parasites because the feed given was controlled and sea pens where salmon are raised were maintained in such a way that the parasite risk was extremely low. The problem with freezing is that unless it is done properly, the quality of the fish is undermined and this means the farmed Scottish salmon could lose out their share of Sashimi and Sushi market. So the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation carried out a joint study with the Food Standard Agency Scotland to look at the risks from parasites in farmed salmon.  

The outcome of the study was published in 2007 and concluded that the risks were minimal. Steve continues “The study was included in a wider EU review of parasites in fishery products carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which confirmed the Scottish findings and led to the introduction of the EU freezing exemption for farmed fish in 2011”. Jamie Smith of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation says “All farmed Scottish salmon have the seal of approval that you can safely eat it raw without freezing.”   Jamie was the technical advisor to the study project looking into the parasite risks in farmed Scottish salmon.  “All salmon farmers in Scotland are directly or indirectly the members of the Organisation.  They abide by out Code of Practice for Finfish Aquaculture which ensures that they all follow certain methods of raising salmon which in return assures the parasite risk is kept negligible.  They all follow the standard procedures, which mean that any risks are kept to an absolute minimum.”