Konnyaku - The Topic

[torakris]

I'm really, really intrigued by the fresh homemade konnyaku. I wonder if there's anywhere in New York that makes it. Are konnyaku imo available outside of Japan?

Good question!

They are really hard to find in Japan, at least in my area I have never seen them in the stores and my friend told me that as well, her mother usually gets them from a nearby farmer. I don't know popular they are out in the countryside though.....

[torakris]

I picked up a new kind of konnyaku today, it is one of the sashimi style ones and it is flavored with yuzu......

[torakris]

served the konnyaku last night.....

I topped it with some scallions and white miso-egg yolk-mirin "sauce"

It had a nice yuzu flavor but wasn't anything spectacular, I mean it is konnyaku after all! The sauce was great though!

[torakris]

I just found this

nanohana (broccoli rabe) konnyaku

I t was really quite good, I just sliced it sashimi style and served it with a karashi-joyu (karashi and soy sauce)

[dornachu]

After tasting konnyaku in a japanese supermarket basement in tokyo, in some sort of pork stew dish, i'm in love with it. What else can i do with it? I get the grey block kind... Thanks!

[Hiroyuki]

My wife is good at making chikuzen ni.

Chikuzen ni recipe:

http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/ref/chkzen/chkzen.html

[melonpan]

unlike others i really really REALLY like konnyaku. i love it in block form or as shirataki... i love the texture and the nonflavour and i am a little sad that i have not yet had it fresh, but i am sure that day will come.

anyway, the easiest thing to do with the block stuff is to pinch off or chop with a knife bite sized chunks. then fry them in a non stick pan without anything. maybe a little bit of oil. you dry fry until a lot of water boils away and the konnyaku starts to stick a little. then season with soy sauce, sake and sugar (about two spoonfuls of soy sauce and a spoonful each of sake and sugar) and continue cooking until the sauce thickens a bit.

thats it. konnyaku very plain, very delicious.

konnyaku haters need not attempt this dish at home as theres nothing else to mask the texture and non-flavour of konnyaku here...

[melonpan]

I"m trying this as we speak, but my konnyaku doesn't have any water coming out... hmmmm

basically, you fry until the chunks are dry... what did you think of the side dish?

[dornachu]

I'm like you, I like konnyaku, so i love this dish, esp. with the thick sauce!! :)

Just always wondering if there are other ways to make it. I LOVE it that it has no calories.

[melonpan]

I'm like you, I like konnyaku, so i love this dish, esp. with the thick sauce!! :)

Just always wondering if there are other ways to make it. I LOVE it that it has no calories.

torakris has served it with the egg/miso sauce and i also eat it lots in soups/nabes. any kind of soup/nabe is usually a good fit with konnyaku. i almost always add it to kimchi jjigaes for example.

[torakris]

konnyaku somen, konnyaku cut into somen like strips, this was a purchased product that came with a "special sauce"

not bad, it was a bit bland but the kimchi I ate it with helped

[torakris]

konnyaku dengaku

this was a purchased product already cubed and skewered and it even came with the miso sauce

My soon to be 5 year old son ate almost half of that plate by himself and then when he woke up this morning he asked if I had any leftovers...

[misstenacity]

BUMP on this thread because I finally had these things and they are... hmm.

Rubbery, but not so much that it makes them "Gah."

I par-boil them after draining in a water & soy sauce mixture, that gives them a mild salty flavor good for adding to soups, etc. In soups I think the texture is fine - it works well that way. However, eating them as "pasta" would be a bit weird... too much emphasis on the noodle, then.

I had to go and do some Googling on the whole "swelling 50x" thing, in addition to some critical thinking about it. Pretty much my conclusion is, the FLOUR expands that much when introduced to water, and that's how they make the noodles. Essentially the noodles are Jell-o but made with a much more potent substance than gelatin, so for every 100g of noodles you have about 3g of flour and 97g of water.

Thankfully, I'm not about to die from the enormous serving of them I just ate, but hopefully I also won't be stuffed for the rest of the day - I'm going out for sushi tonight!

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[Terrasanct]

I make great pad thai with it. It's nice to have noodles again after cutting them out of my diet. They're especially good as leftovers, after they absorb all the flavors.

I couldn't figure out how to use the block of stuff, but the shirataki noodles worked really well.

[therese]

I had to go and do some Googling on the whole "swelling 50x" thing, in addition to some critical thinking about it.  Pretty much my conclusion is, the FLOUR expands that much when introduced to water, and that's how they make the noodles.  Essentially the noodles are Jell-o but made with a much more potent substance than gelatin, so for every 100g of noodles you have about 3g of flour and 97g of water.

http://tenacity.net

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Exactly. It's basically just barely solidified water. Because it's already packed in water it's as hydrated as it's going to get, and won't swell further in your gut. So you shouldn't experience any post-prandial bloating, but you also won't feel full for too long.

[mizducky]

BUMP on this thread because I finally had these things and they are... hmm. 

Rubbery, but not so much that it makes them "Gah." 

I par-boil them after draining in a water & soy sauce mixture, that gives them a mild salty flavor good for adding to soups, etc.  In soups I think the texture is fine - it works well that way.  However, eating them as "pasta" would be a bit weird... too much emphasis on the noodle, then.http://tenacity.net

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There is a variety of shiritaki which contains tofu in addition to the konnyaku gel. I have yet to find the stuff in any of the brick-and-mortar Asian groceries around me, but my understanding is that it's a little less bouncy than the regular shiritaki, and thus a bit closer to the mouthfeel we Westerners associate with pasta. (It's also creamy white, so it looks more like flour-based pasta too.)

Myself, I've had my best luck with konnyaku when cooked as part of long-simmered stew-type dishes; the long cooking time tones down the stuff's bounciness considerably, and gives the stuff a chance to fully absorb flavors from the other ingredients, and the konnyaku provides a nice textural contrast to the other elements in the dish.

I'm really not too sure I'd like the stuff totally on its own. I think it's another of those food textures that are more acceptable if you grew up eating it. FWIW, I have even more trouble with the mouthfeel of agar/kanten. And yet I like the more tender moutthfeel of gelatin just fine. Odd, how much difference a little thing like that can make.

P.S. I've found konnyaku in those Asian markets in all sorts of other interesting shapes. My favorite so far just for sheer novelty value was something labeled as "konnyaku squid". These were little square slices of white-ish konnyaku scored with a crosshatch pattern on one side, the way squid is often prepared for stirfries and such. You still have to figure out how to impregnate them with squiddy flavor, but gee, they were kinda cute-looking.

[OnigiriFB]

Hrm. Is it used in okonomiyaki? I could have sworn the lady who taught me how to make okonomiyaki used to put it in hers. She's from osaka if that helps. I haven't used it because it's hard to find here. But I just noticed some shirataki at my local grocery and I was wondering what to do with it?

[jeniac42]

I have to admit that I really like the superchewy texture of shirataki and konnyaku. The first time I opened a package I thought it smelled like dirt but I've come to love it. I just eat the noodles with soy sauce if I can't think of anything else.

Then again, I always loved finger jello, AKA knox blox? when I was growing up. I used to have my mom use extra gelatin so it would set up as chewy as possible.

Hm. Maybe I need to break open the bag of shirataki in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. I think it might be good with okonomiyaki!

[torakris]

I merged this thread with the one in the Japan forum so for those of you who are new to the thread you might want to scroll up to see all the yummy konnyaku pictures!

Onigiri,

konnyaku can be added to okonomiyaki but it is more commonly added to negi yaki (like okonomiyaki but scallions instead of cabbage). Here is a picture of one I ate recently, it is hard to see but the grey stuff is konnyaku.

[Tess]

I like to pan-fry tofu shirataki, especially the linguini shape. It takes some patience but you can get them fairly crispy. I do it with no oil and add small amounts of sauce to the pan to keep them from sticking.

[OnigiriFB]

OOO that sounds good Kris. Hrm... though it's hard to find the type of scallions that Japan has here. I wonder if it would work with the littler ones? Is it the same otherwise? Do you put anything else in it besides green onion and konnyaku? I was going to make korokke but now this has me intrigued. And drooling.

[torakris]

OOO that sounds good Kris. Hrm... though it's hard to find the type of scallions that Japan has here. I wonder if it would work with the littler ones? Is it the same otherwise? Do you put anything else in it besides green onion and konnyaku? I was going to make korokke but now this has me intrigued. And drooling. 

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Sure you can!

In the original (?) Osaka version the thinner green scallions are piled on to a very thin "pancake"

Like this picture (scroll past the pictures of the golf course.....)

The version I ate (and showed the picture of) is the thicker Tokyo version made with the the thick white negi scallions, they scallions are more popular in the Kanto-Tokyo area than Osaka.

I am not sure about the Osaka version but the one I ate was just brushed with soy sauce instead of okonomiyaki sauce and a squeeze of lemon instead of mayo.

[Hiroyuki]

I recently found while searching that May 29 is Konnyaku Day. Anyone interested in making a konnyaku dish on that day?

[helenjp]

Konnyaku sashimi!

[melonpan]

Konnyaku sashimi!

man, i wish i could taste freshly made konnyaku...