This post seems to have had a boost thanks to Channel 4’s #FoodUnwrapped so I thought it was a good time to republish it. Since it’s been a year since I originally posted this – and I’ve fallen more and more in love with Konjac and “Slim Pasta” then if you have ANY questions please feel free to leave a comment below….enjoy!
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So I posted my post gym dinner on Instagram last night and since it’s drawn lots of questions, I thought it would be easier to answer them here.
This is the pork and vegetable stir-fry with shirataki noodles I made last night…
Shirataki (or yam) noodles have been used in Japanese cuisine for YEARS. They’re basically thin, translucent noodles that are made from a vegetable called Konjac (which is also known as devil’s tongue, voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam). They dry the yam and grind it into a flour from which they make the noodles. I’m sure you can think of lots of vegetables that have practically zero calories and the konjac plant (the Japanese yam) is one of them.
So just to recap these noodles have no carbs, virtually no calories (a pack has approx 10 calories) , no wheat, no gluten and no sugar.
How to cook Shirataki noodles:
The texture of these noodles are like the thin rice noodles you can buy, or even more like super noodles.
They come packed in a gel like liquid so before you eat them you’ll need to drain this liquid. You’ll notice there’s a bit of a fishy smell to them so make sure that you throughly rinse before you add to your food. Seriously, don’t let the smell put you off, once you rinse them it’s no longer an issue.
The best thing about these noodles is that you don’t need to boil them like you would pasta. Just add them to any food you’re cooking and it’ll take on the flavours and sauce of that food. They only need to be over heat for about 5 minutes so if you’re doing a stir fry throw them in at the end.
Where to buy them:
This is what I’ve been asked the most. I purchased mine from Whole Foods but since theres not very many of them in the UK then here are some other options…*Just note that they aren’t the cheapest. I think a pack cost me around £1.85 from Whole Foods but they are worth it.*
Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury all stock either skinny pasta or zero noodles. These are essentially the same thing but they seem a lot more expensive than hunting down the original shirataki noodles.
If you live near any Chinese or Japanese supermarkets then you’ll most likely get them there and they’ll be a lot cheaper than the supermarkets.
Buy them online: Amazon sell them
I’ll be sure to update this if I find them stocked anywhere else!
Note: You can often find solid white ones which have tofu in them – these are not the low cal/carb free version I’m talking about.
Recipe for the dish above…
I’m loathed to call it a recipe really as it was so simple.
I simple threw some spring onions, pepper, pak choi, courgette, mushrooms and sliced pork in to the wok.
I then added in some chilli, Chinese 5 spice, soy sauce and garlic to create a little sauce.
When all the veggies and meat was cooked I added the noodles.
Perfect when you want fast food!
Thank you Rachael for this post will definitely try them out because they look so yummy in your pork and mushroom recipe x
‘Thanks for this recipe Rachael, sounds very yummy. I always manage to get my noodles as Tesco but have never heard of the ones you mention here. Will have to see if I can find them as I love Chinese food and it is much cheaper to make yourself than going to a take away !!