Simon simply celebrates the raw delight of making sushi

For the first three years of training, chefs are only allowed to wash and cook rice. It's another four years before they are actually allowed out of the kitchen to meet customers.

Simon Phillips shows no such reverence. For him, sushi started as a hobby and after playing with how to marry Japanese technique with Western ingredients, he opened two sushi bars in Leeds.

The business struggled during the recession and Simon is now going it alone to spread the word about the joys of raw fish. He's offering his services to schools, corporate events and is the latest chef to come on board at Swinton Park's cookery school. The beauty of sushi, he says, is that anyone can give it a go. Forget the seven years of training, at its very basic sushi is simple.

Certainly there are no fancy reductions, no pots to watch boil and with no cooking, there's no burning either. And Simon, whose commitment to experimentation goes as far as marinating salmon in beetroot, is clearly a passionate teacher.

A quick run through of the basic techniques, from which side up to have the sheets of seaweed (shiny to the outside) and how much rice to use (just enough to thinly cover the seaweed) and it's time to see if the art of sushi is as easy as he makes it look.

Fortunately, Simon has done the hard work, by cooking the rice – a short-grained sweet variety – beforehand. It's cooled and mixed with a vinegar solution and the pickling means it can be left to stand at room temperature.

There are three main types, makizushi (rice inside the sushi), Californian rolls (rice on the outside and apparently devised as a way to sell sushi to the non-seaweed loving Americans) and nigirizushi (oblong mould of rice with piece of fish on top).

Traditionally, fillings are confined to salmon, tuna and cucumber, but Simon is determined to prove that it can be made with any ingredients and before us are small plates of cooked chicken, avocado, mozzarella and tomatoes. It's a sight which could push Japanese sushi masters to commit hara-kiri.

Still Simon seems to think it's ok and it's time to get rolling. Twenty minutes later, it's all done. Sushi, as Simon, says is the ultimate fast food.

However, my tricolour or tomatoes, cheese and avocado looks more Toblerone than tube of Smarties and I've overfilled one of the Californian rolls so the ends of the seaweed don't quite meet.

The rice is much stickier, the sushi itself more substantial and the fillings taste much fresher.

However, I'm not sure I could ever fully embrace a chicken and avocado sushi roll. Having spent years refining the art, I'm with the Japanese, when it comes to sushi it has to be fish and it has to be raw.

For more details of Simon's cookery courses visit www.swintonpark.com. For details of other cookery courses across the county visit Welcome to Yorkshire's website www.yorkshire.com

GET THE PERFECT SUSHI RICE...

After weighing your sushi rice (Simon suggests 200g per person) wash it thoroughly in a sieve in cold running water.

When most of the starch has been washed off, leave to dry for 15 minutes. Place the dry rice in a pan. Add cold water (for every 200g of rice, use 220ml of water) and close the lid. Bring to the boil over a medium heat and when you can hear the water bubbling (try not to open the lid) turn the heat up to high for a further five minutes. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave the covered pan to stand for a final 15 minutes. Place the cooked rice into a large bowl and pour over sushi vinegar solutions (approx 250ml per 1kg of uncooked rice)

Mix gently until all of the liquid has been absorbed.

Wait until the rice has cooled to room temperature, then start rolling.