Okay! I finally found the konnyaku noodles in the grocery store. It doesn't say any nutritional information on the package (well, it might, but it's all in Japanese!) It does, however, say Fibre Rich, and I remember people talking about them before.

Now, what to do with them. I understand I'm supposed to drain them before use, but should I fry them, boil them, serve them cold with salads? What type of seasonings or sauces would go best? Are they best as a side dish (for what type of meat) or as part of the meat dish?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Lily

Drain, blanch and cool first.

I think they go better with oriental seasonings like soy sauce, ginger, green onion, fish sauce, sesame seeds and oil, roasted peanuts...that type of thing. I also think they're pretty gakky used in Italian type pastas. A konyakku carbonara just doesn't cut it.

You can throw them in stir fries or make salads out otf them too.

I like them in chicken soup with lime, cilantro, green onion, chilies and fish sauce and daikon.

Karen

Karen thank you! I will make an asian beef stir fry with them tonight. I made a crock pot roast beef yesterday so we have lots of leftovers which need to be used, so this is perfect!

Thank you very much. Hmmm, maybe a peanut sauce tonight!

Once we're out of leftovers I'm going to try the soup you suggested. OMG, I love lime and cilantro! It sounds wonderful.

Thankful as always,
Lily

Oh Karen, I meant to ask you, does blanch just mean bring to a boil and then turn off the heat - as in a quick boil? Thanks!

Lily

Sort of. Bring to a boil, add noodles and when the water returns to a boil, drain them.

Karen

So that's what blanch means!! I just winged it and brought the water to a boil, added the noodles, but I let it boil for a few minutes then drained. I didn't cook all the noodles, so next time I'll properly blanch them! They were excellent with the beef with peanut sauce - lime juice, cilantro, sesame oil, peanut butter, soy sauce and some of the liquid from the juices from when I cooked the beef. DH was MUCHO impressed!

Another GOOOOOAAAALLLa for Lily!

Thanks!
Lily

Sounds fab! I love peanut sauce!

Karen

Hi Karen. Love your recipes and tips. Plan to make your Slightly Italian meatloaf tonight. But had a question about the Konnyaku noodles. Had my first attempt at using these with a chinese chicken stir fry. I blanched the noodles per your suggestion above. However, they were very rubbery. Reminded me of seriously overcooked calamari. Do they ever get less chewy or is this just the fact of life re the konnyaku noodles? Thanks. Julie.

It's a fact of life, but the less you cook them, the less bouncy they are. Add them at the end of whatever you are cooking, just to heat them through.

Karen

Thanks, Karen. That's what I did, but they were really bouncy. I guess I was hoping for zero carb semolina pasta By the way, the entire family loved your Slightly Italian Meatloaf that I made last night. I had to do a little fibbing by telling my DH that the ground pork rinds were cracker crumbs while I was making the dish, but no one would have been able to tell that was one of the ingredients once it was cooked. Thanks! Julie.

Well, if you invent it, you'll be a millionaire!

That's the cool thing about pork rinds. I make a stuffing from pork rinds that I call "Secret" stuffng. When people ask what's in it, I say it's a secret.

Karen

This is my favorite, old (from NY Times about 25 years ago) recipe for 'hacked chicken with noodles' -- the konjak noodles work very well with it (blanched and chilled.)

Virginia Lee’s Chicken & Cold Noodles with Spicy Sesame Sauce

Large Small
2 C. 1 C. Ingredient
3 Tbsp 1 Tbsp Sesame oil
½ Cup ¼ Cup Sesame paste (tahini)
6 Tbsp 3 Tbsp water
4 tsp 2 tsp hot chili oil/paste
6 Tbsp 3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
½ Cup ¼ Cup peanut or corn oil*
4 Tbsp 2Tbsp minced garlic (to taste, but don’t leave it out!)
optional garnish 2-4 scallions, chopped

*Note: depending on the consistency of the sesame paste, you may or may not want to add more oil. You want the final product to be a thick gravy.

Mix everything (not scallions) in the blender or food processor until smooth. Serve with ‘hacked’ (shredded) chicken. Nice to sprinkle some chopped scallions over it.

Of course the original dish was served over cold noodles, too. If you can afford the extra carbs, go ahead. Otherwise, just the chicken is great, with some undressed salad on the side.

The carbcounters do not agree on either garlic or sesame paste. Based on what I can find, I’ve decided this:
1 T sesame paste = 1 carb
1 T garlic = 2 carb
So the whole recipe is (large=16) (small=8) carbs, and it you’ll probably only use 2-3 Tablespoons per serving, so that’s (large 10-12) (small 5-6) servings at roughly 1.5 carbs per serving.

My package (here called shiritake noddles) says to place in boiling water, turn off heat and allow to soak for 10 minutes. When I did this, they were like rice vermicelli and the bounce had largely gone.

Val

Janegrace, this sounds so delicious! I have everything except the Tahini which I will be getting tomorrow so I can finally try the recipe. Thank you very much!

Lily

Ha. That should read 'noodles',.. ah well, probably made a few folks giggle.

V.