Sushi rice

It was only when I watched Nigella Lawson prodding away at hallowed sushi rice smothered in Korean jarred paste, probably in a dressing gown with her feet up, that I considered myself worthy of this grain. It’s a short-grained, white Japanese rice and is dressed with rice vinegar, sugar and salt for sushi. This is what gives it that sweet, zingy, gentle hum that seems almost intrinsic to the rice grain. This combination of unlikely companions is a stroke of Japanese rice-cooking genius.

It is stickier than other rices, but apart from that there is no need to fear it. To me it’s a good half-way house between nutty long-grain and all-out sticky rice. It’s just adhesive enough to act as a sort of rice trencher, a sweet, sturdy bed to hold a full-bodied sauce. Chopstick-based culinary cultures like the good and sticky grain.