We all know how clean, light and all-round good for you Japanese food is. Small portions, fermented dishes, lots of fish and veg and no cheese or butter make it ideal for those of us looking to take a gut-friendly attitude to eating. Problem is, while we'll sit in ramen bars drinking down broths fired with ginger and garlic for hours, it can be a little scary to have a go at making it yourself.

To get you started, here's some top tips from chef and cookbook author Yuki Gomi, who runs classes in the delicate art of Japanese cooking from her home in Crystal Palace.

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1 | 'My favourite healthy Japanese ingredients are miso and seaweed. With the former, I make a salad dressing from the paste mixed with rice vinegar and a little tahini – it's gorgeously nutty and creamy – try drizzling over asparagus and tofu. With the latter, I make an amazing stock with rich, deep, umami flavour, that I then use to form the base of noodle soups.'

2 | 'Everyone thinks that Japanese cooking is really difficult and complicated, but actually it's very simple. All you need is fresh products and a good stock. And if you make a batch of a base sauce like teriyaki, you can leave it in the fridge for three or four days, and put it with a different fish, meat or seasonal veg for a quick midweek supper.'

3 | 'There's no dairy in Japanese cooking, which makes it a great cuisine to get into if you're looking to cut down on your cheese, milk and butter intake. It's very clean and light, lots of steaming and boiling rather than frying, which makes it really easy to digest.'

4 | 'If you're making sushi, the most important thing is to get the rice right. It needs the right balance of rice vinegar mixture to the volume of grains. It needs to be cooled down before you use it to form pieces of sushi, which a restaurant would use a fan for – but you can use a hairdryer on the cold setting. And if you're using raw fish, make sure it's high quality, and bought fresh from a fishmonger. Tell them what you're using it for, so they know what sort of grade you require. If you're scared of going raw, you can always use lightly smoked salmon or cooked prawns.'

5 | 'My favourite place for Japanese food in the UK? It's got to be Koya Bar in Soho, London. It's properly authentic and has that street food vibe. It just feels so comforting to me – a real taste of home.'

Book a group or private class with Yuki through her website, yukiskitchen.com

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