Shirataki noodles are thin, low carb, chewy, and translucent Japanese noodles made from konjac yam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac).. Konjac has almost no calories but is very high in glucomannan fiber. Thus, it is often used as a diet food. Shirataki noodles, also called konjac or konnyaku noodle , are thinner than wheat noodles, do not break as easily, and have an almost crunchy texture. They do not have much flavor by themselves, but it absorbs flavors well from other ingredients.
Shirataki noodles are usually packaged “wet”, that is, you purchase them pre-packaged in liquid.
At PierMall.com, we carry the Shirataki noodles made in Japan. You may purchase it by single bag, or by case.
What you need to prepare shirataki noodles?
1. A small strainer.
2. Water to rinse. (You may notice a “fishy” smell when you open up the package. The smell is from the water in the package and not the noodles. The smell will disappear after you rinse the noodles several times in the fresh water).
3. A good family pasta recipe or healthy vegetables, seafood, chicken, spices - the list is endless!
4. Family and friends to enjoy your new found health discovery!
Keep refrigerated after opening. Konjac Foods can be stored in room temperature with the shelf life about one year.
Recipe Suggestion for shirataki noodles:
Stir-Fry Vegetable with Shirataki
Ingredients
1 tablespoon sesame oil 7 oz shirataki noodles (1 bag) 1 cup green bean sprouts
1/4 cup fine carrot strips
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms (presoaked in water until soft and tender) 2 T Kikkoman soy sauce 1 Cup stir-fry vegetables (frozen)
Directions
Combine oil and soy sauce in wok and preheat over medium heat. rinse shirataki noodles in fresh water Add noodles and frozen vegetables to wok; stir fry until mixture is heated through but vegetables are still crispy. Add green bean sprouts and shiitake mushrooms; heat through. Makes 2 servings of about 2 1/2 cups. Simple, quick, delicious and deceptively low in calories! Number of Servings: 2
Shirataki Noodle Shrimp Stir-fry
Ingredients
1 8oz package of shirataki noodles 7 oz of raw shrimp (cleaned and shelled .5 tbsp canola oil 4 cloves garlic 1 tbsp grated ginger .5 tsp hot pepper flakes or hot pepper paste 1 large green peppers 1 medium zucchini (about 7 oz) ½ cup snow pea 2 large scalions 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce 1 tbsp rice vinegar 1 tbsp mirin .5 teaspoon agave nectar 2 tbsp cornstarch
Directions
Put water on to boil.
Rinse noodles and set aside.
Add noodles to boiling water and stir.
At the same time, heat wok and following steps below:
Chop garlic and grate ginger. Set aside. Cut peppers into long strips, Set aside Chop zucchini into long strips, Set aside.
Chop scallions
Make sauce: mix together soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin and cornstarch.
Clean and shell shrimp, remove tails if you like. Add oil to piping hot wok and add garlic, ginger and hot pepper flakes/paste.
Stir for 30 seconds and add peppers. Stir.
Add Zucchini. Stir for 2 minutes.
Push veggies to side and dump in shrimp.
Stir-fry shrimp and veggies together for a minute.
Add snow pea and continue to stir.
Re-mix the sauce and add to stir-fry. Stir for a minute.
Drain noodles and add to wok. Turn off heat and mix to incorporate noodles. top with scallions and serve!
Number of Servings: 2
There are many more great recipes on the web. Here are some we like:
The jujube red date is an edible fruit and has high medical value. Jujube is rich in vitamins and contains many kinds of trace elements such as iron, zinc and cerium and so on.
The jujube also has the very high value for medicinal purposes. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that “the jujube is fruit of the spleen”. Date products have the function like diminishing inflammation, clearing blood and promoting blood circulation. It is believed that jujube has the tonic properties over the spleen, nourishing stomach, enriching blood and invigorating mind. The modern Chinese medicine research shows that both the big and small jujube are good for the spleen, but the big date’s merit is to reduce turbid, the small jujube’s merit is to strengthen the constitution, therefore the big date is used in medicine for treatment; The small jujube is not be the components of medicine and used for supporting body.
We carry both small ( seedless Heibei Heart Shaped jujube dates) and large date (XinJian Hetian Jujube Dates). Both types are the premium quality date with very small stone. Heart shaped jujube dates is already seedless. It has tight small body, chewy in texture. Xinjian Hetian jujube is large, soft and sweet with tiny seed. Both of them are delicious. You may use it for soup, rice porridge, meat dish, tea and even prepare it as a delicious no fat sweet snack.
Both dates are raw food, they should be thoroughly washed with tap water and cooked before eaten. We usually steam a bag of date for 20 minutes, and store the cooked jujube date in refrigerators to enjoy as snacks or add to various dishes.
Nutrient component of natural stunner, Hetian jade date (Large Date)
Despite the delicious taste of instant noodles, many of us would like to control our calorie intake and limit instant noodles to an occasional treat. Is there any ramen that is healthier, yet still tastes great and is just as easy to make? We searched the Asian markets and found the solution: two great alternatives to instant ramen noodles.
Our first solution is to use Fast Cooking Ramen noodles. The good part is that they are healthy (made also with whole wheat, for added on fibers, you can see the brownish wheat), taste great, easy and quick to make. The only catch is : you still have to cook them, even if it is only for 3 minutes.
Quick Ramen - Steam Pork
The other solution is to eat Instant Rice Noodle, which will be another day’s topic.
Fast cooking noodles are very much like instant ramen noodles, but they have a lower fat content: they are not fried, but pre-steamed.
After searching and tasting many brands, we found several great . One of them stand out above the rest in both its taste and in that it even comes with a ready-to-use sauce packet - just like instant ramen. These are . They are much healthier than traditional instant noodles: the noodle itself is not fried and is fat free. They are Genetic Modified Organism (GMO) Free and there are no preservatives added. The only fat is in the sauce packet: only 2 grams and you don’t even have to use it all! What’s more, there is no hydrogenated oil, and there is no trans fat.
There are 4 blocks (1 serving each) of ramen noodles per bag and there are 4 sauce packets for Chinese Style Stewed Pork with meat and 4 dried seasoned veggies packets.
Quick Ramen - Steam Pork
You can cook the noodles in two styles: Noodles and soup or Pan Fried style (Yaki Soba) Dried Noodle.
Fast Cooking Instruction and Recipe for Ramen Noodle and Soup:
(1) Add 4 bowls of water into a pan and boil it
(2) Add 1 block of noodles into boiling water, cook 2 minutes
(3) Add some vegetables (like Chinese green leaf, bok choy, or fresh spinach) and/or precooked meat, continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes
(4) Take out noodles and place on a plate, add 2/3 of sauce packet and mix into noodle
(5) Add the remaining 1/3 of sauce packet and veggies packet into soup
Now you have 1 plate of noodles and 1 bowl of veggie soup!
In the photo on the right, I used less than 1/3 of the sauce in the packet to meet my own taste. Most people might use 1/2 ~ 2/3 of the package, but I think very few people will use up whole sauce packets.
Fast Cooking for Chinese Style Noodle Soup:
To enjoy a bowl of noodle soup, simply add sauce and dried veggies into a pot with a serving of noodles, and stir well.
To add more variety, add more vegetables, fish cakes, precooked eggs, and top with some strips of seasoned seaweed.
Quick Ramen - Steam Pork
Pan Fried Noodle Style
Take out noodle into a bowl, empty sauce and veggies into the bowl, and mix well.
To make it healthier, add some green vegetables, broccoli, etc. during the last 2 minutes of cooking.
I found that there is actually a lot of sauce, so start with less and adjust the amount to your taste.
What is the final taste? Taste just like your regular Instant Ramen Noodle, but with a peace of mind — it is so much more healthier!
Nutrition Facts
Noodles - Graham flour, Wheat Flour, Salt Garnish - Cabbage, pea, carrot, corn, green onion, dried Seaweed Sauce Packet: palm oil, salt, sugar, scallion oil, artificial pork flavor, star anise, pepper, vitamin E. NET WT.: 4 oz / FOR 1 SERVING AMOUNT PER SERVING: Calories 354 / Calories from Fat 18
Find these Healthy Quick Cooking Chinese Noodles only at PierMall.com
UFO Instant Japanese Ramen Noodle bowl is a popular Instant Japanese Noodle. This is a YakiSoba Style ramen noodle, which is very similar to Chinese Chow Mein. They are pan fried style Teriyaki noodles, so they taste better with less liquid added.
UFO - Instant Ramen Noodle
The dried noodles come in fairly large bowls. Besides the vegetable flakes (the flakes are quite large, compared to conventional ones), there are some other flakes, which is what the UFO refers to: If it is pork flavored, the flakes are dried pieces of pork; if it is beef flavored, they would be dried pieces of beef.
UFO therefore refers to the dried meat, Unidentified Flying Objects, or in this case, Unidentified Frying Objects, inside the noodle bowl.
UFO - Instant Ramen Noodle, Inside
It is quite easy to prepare the noodles. Just add boiling water to the bowl and keep the cover sealed for 3-5 minutes, or just until the noodles are soft and can be loosened with a pair of chopsticks (remember two put aside the two packets inside the bowl first!). The longer you steep them in boiling water, the softer the noodles will be.
Loosen the noodles. There were two packets that came inside the bowl: one is seasoning, one is the sauce packet. Starting with just a little, mix both seasoning and sauce into noodle bowl.
I found that those sauces and seasonings are just too much. They can be used to prepare at least two bowls of noodles! For the noodle in the photo below, I only used 1/3 of the sauce packet. They are quite tasty already.
UFO - Instant Ramen Noodle, Cooked
Stir well and enjoy!
Overall, UFO noodles are very tasty. The dried meat part is totally unique; very uncommon in the instant noodle world. The meat is actually quite chewy after soaking in water.
The sauce is quite sweet and tasty. If you like teriyaki flavor, you will like these UFO noodles. Just make sure to start with only a little sauce, and adjust the amount to your taste.
