First off, we should make it clear that Bushido’s fish comes direct from Japan shipped in fresh twice a week.

But that having said, there’s no reason you can’t recreate these Japanese favourites from the wide variety of stock in our own fish market – just get there early and bring nose clips, the smell can be a bit over powering.

California roll
To create this sushi classic you’ll need flat sheets of processed seaweed, sushi rice, Japanese mayonnaise, crab sticks, cucumber, avocado, flying fish roe and powdered seaweed. Keep a small pot of water with a little added rice vinegar to hand to dip your fingers as you go along To prepare the rice, which is smaller and has a different texture to regular rice, first rinse it under cold water for around 15 minutes to remove all debris and powder and, after cooking, drain really well for around five minutes to get rid of all the water. Then add rice vinegar, sugar and salt which make it stick together.

Lay a sheet of seaweed on a sushi mat, roll a ball of rice and place in the middle then flatten out evenly with your fingers so that it covers the whole sheet.

Turn the sheet over and put a little Japanese mayonnaise on the reverse side of the seaweed sheet and add crab stick, very thinly sliced cucumber and sliced avocado then roll tightly in the mat and pinch to seal creating the classic sushi roll.

Top it off with flying fish roe and powdered seaweed and cut into eight pieces using a very sharp knife – Danny uses a yanagiba but you might have trouble finding one here.

Arrange on a plate with a little wasabi paste to taste and ginger to refresh the palate after eating.

Sushi nigiri
Now, for this one, it’s all about the hand action in getting the rice and fish to bond. Danny used tuna, yellow tail, European and Japanese sea bass and salmon, all raw, and cooked eel and shrimp tail split down the middle.

Take a small ball of rice and lay the fish on top, squeeze together and tap on the top to seal then turn and squeeze together and tap again to seal the other sides – basically you should end up with something that looks as if the meat is riding on the back of the rice.

For the eel, you’ll need to use a thin strip of processed seaweed to seal as the fish and rice do not bond particularly well. Top the eel with unagi sauce, made from fish stock, soy sauce, sugar and fermented beverage reduced down to a thickish syrup, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Sashimi
Sashimi is where the superbly sharp knife comes into its own because it is really all about the presentation of the raw fish.

Small strips of salmon are sliced, but not deeply, in a criss-cross pattern and then rolled. A fresh sea scallop is cut in slices and arranged in a shell with shredded radish and carrot and thinly sliced cucumber.
From a fillet of sea bass, where the flesh varies in colour from pink through to reddish, Danny cut four wafer-thin slices, laid them overlapping each other, like dominoes, then using chopstick-like tongs rolled them tightly together so that the overlapping edges stood up to resemble a flower.

Larger slices of tuna were cut from a fillet and arranged to resemble the leaves of a flower and then all were arranged in a bowl of ice along with carved vegetables – a carrot bird flying above, dainty lettuce leaves and more carrot curls to finish off.

As we said, all the fish comes from Japan but for the rest of the ingredients, check out the Oriental Supermarket next to the Central Market (17 243 182).

And, if you still can’t get the hang of it, even with our help. Bushido will soon be launching sushi lessons where you can learn from the masters.
Call (17 583 555).