6 Use a Rice Cooker

We’re all guilty of buying kitchen gear that gets relegated to the appliance graveyard, gathering dust, but a rice cooker will never be one of those. Some rice, such as basmati, is very simple to cook but other varieties—such as Japanese medium-grain (sushi) rice or American long-grain—can be very tricky indeed. Rice cookers do all the hard work for you and are little pods of genius, keeping the rice perfectly warm for up to an hour without overcooking it.

The best and least expensive are the Japanese or Korean brands. A six-cup rice cooker is probably the biggest you will need (that amount makes up to 10 large rolls of sushi) and is fairly small in size. Avoid the posh digital versions (they’re too hard to figure out and they’re pricey) and buy one with a simple ‘on’ button, and you’ll soon be the sensei of sushi making.