Rice with natto fermented soybeans (Nattō gohan)

1. Keep freshly cooked rice hot, or reheat leftover rice in the microwave.

2. Put the natto in a small bowl and stir vigorously with chopsticks 30-50 times until it forms thick, white, stringy threads.

3. Add the soy sauce and mustard and stir another 10-15 times.

4. Slice the spring onion very thinly and stir half into the natto.

5. Spoon the hot rice into bowls and pile the natto on top.

6. Sprinkle with the rest of the spring onion and serve at once.

Tip: Natto is a pungent, stringy fermented soybean – some love it, others take time to get used to it, but it's a staple of the Japanese breakfast. The more you stir, the creamier and milder it becomes.