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Sushi teacher Naoki Nishimoto explained to the keen class of 13 students the importance of using the appropriate Japanese kitchen knives to make cleaner sashimi cuts. The most popular kitchen knives are the deba bocho (kitchen cleaver), usuba bocho (vegetable knife) and yanagi ba (sashimi slicer).
With my Eurasian background, I assumed I would have an Oriental cooking advantage over my fellow Caucasian students. Unfortunately, after indulging in copious amounts of gin and tonic the night before, my cooking and concentration skills were about as handy as a blindfolded Kochie at a barbecue. And I forgot to wear my Karate Kid outfit so I could be inspired by my sensei chef on the dozo table.
Sushi rice First we were taught to wash the short-grained rice with body temperature water before putting it in the rice cooker. Once cooked, the rice is emptied into a big bowl and mixed with 120ml of sushi vinegar and sea salt and cooled down with a fan. I kept on reminding myself that there was no need to "wax on, wax off" and it simply needed to be sticky.
Nori The seaweed wrappers known as nori are algae rolled out into sheets, dried in the sun and toasted. We spread the sushi rice moderately over the rough side of the seaweed and began to get more excited than Kyle Sandilands with a Krispy Kreme shop-a-docket.
Fish Nishimoto said that good ocean fish smells clean, has a vivid colour and clear glassy eyes. The most commonly used fish are tuna, yellowtail, snapper, eel, mackerel and salmon. The fish should be scaled effectively, cut into thin long slices and bones are to be picked out with tweezers. Nishimoto denied he used the same tweezers to pick out his grey hairs.
Chicken Koichiro Mizusawa, head chef of the Emon restaurant and affectionately known as Big Brother, skinned and cooked the chicken thigh fillets. Mizusawa, who has 20 years of sushi-making experience, explained that there's more moisture in the thigh for sushi rolls. I happily agreed — considering the chef looked more like an Olympic judo champion. Once the chicken was browned, it was mixed with two teaspoons of teriyaki sauce.
Vegetables Lebanese cucumbers were cut in half and further sliced into long fingers, without the seeds. Avocado was also cut into thin slices and carrots were sliced into eight fingers.
Sushi roll Fish or chicken is spread across the seaweed, with the rough side up, then vegetables are added. Rolling the sushi in a bamboo mat seems to require the skill of a graduate of Cheech and Chong's Doobie Rolling Academy. Many attempts were made to roll the sushi and the double-sided rolls, but it was hard concentrating with the chorus of laughter from students and Big Brother. Some of my sushi rolls looked like the size of a beer warmer and some struggled to stay together.
Sashimi Making sashimi was the easy and most enjoyable job. It simply involved squeezing a small ball of rice into your hand and resting a thinly cut piece of sashimi on top.
At the end of the course, we feasted on the treats of our labour and discussed Japanese culture with Nishimoto and Big Brother. My sushi skills may not be up to the standards of even the Salvation Army soup kitchen, but the course is a great learning experience.
