I am going to make some shirataki noodles
using glucomannan powder, water,
and, in the last scene, you will see me using some
pickling lime.
All right, let us get started.  For this one, we are
going to use 2-1/2 cups of cool water;
 
1-1/2 tablespoons of glucomannan powder...just pour it right in there,
and you will need a whisk.  Whisk it around until there are no lumps; it does not take very long.
then, after that,
all we have to do is wait for 15 minutes
to let it harden and then we will do a spoon test.
I will be right back.
All right.  It has been 15 minutes.
Let us go ahead and do our spoon test. 
Let us take the spoon; scrape it to the bottom,
and drag it through.
We do not want it to flow together too fast, 
but we do want it to slowly go together.
This is not too bad.  It might be a little
too thick, but I am going to still use it.
See...it is still going together, so that is a
good sign.  If it did not go together,
then it would definitely be too thick, but
this, I think, will work.
We will find out when we do the rest of
the steps.
Okay, after this, now that I decided that
it is okay to use, I am going to put this
in the microwave for about 3 or 4 minutes, stirring every couple minutes,
just to get the heat circulated through
the mixture, because that is what we want.
We just want to heat it up.  We do not want to cook it...so I will do that
and then will be right back.  Okay, I am
back.  I just got done
microwaving this for almost 4 minutes,
and this is kind of what it looks like,
and regarding the heat, when I measured it [after microwaving],
it had gotten up to about 115 to 120
degrees [Fahrenheit].  Heat is part of the process.
 
That is why we are doing this.  It helps it
to start the gel process.
All right, now it is showing about 100 [Fahrenheit],
but when I first took it out [of the microwave], it was about 115 [F], and if you stir it a little bit too,
it will cool down faster.  Now, after
we microwaved it, comes the hard part.
 
It is good to wait until it is probably
about 90 [to 95] degrees [Fahrenheit] temperature, so we are
going to have to continue to monitor and
wait and wait and wait until it gets to there,
and while I am doing that, we are going to mix up the pickling lime
in a little bit of water; so I am just
going to mix together a tablespoon (1 Tbs) of
water and a half a teaspoon (1/2 tsp) of the
pickling lime.
I will be back, and by that time,
this should be at 90 [to 95] degrees [Fahrenheit] and then we
can mix those two together and start
making the noodles.
All right...here we go.  I have mixed up my
pickling lime slurry.  Just have to wiggle it
around a little bit, because it separates - got to keep it together,
and since this is almost 90 [F], I am going to
go ahead, take out my thermometer,
just pour it right over, and we are going to mix
this together, and usually, so it does not
get too stiff (because it stiffens as it
cools down), I only mix about between
50 and 60 strokes...
sometimes 70 strokes.  So let us do
that.
 
 
 
 
it is coming together
It is not in blobs anymore, and this is the
consistency that you want when you are
making the noodles.  This is perfect [consistency] just to go into your pasta press.
Put it right in there, and at this stage because
it is cool, it is good to work a little fast.
Otherwise, it might get too hard to work with or to squeeze
through the pasta press
...so this is one of those "hurry up and
wait" type of recipes, I guess.
All right...In this recipe,
it usually has a little bit left over.  You can either try later to put it in [the pasta press]
and squeeze it through the pasta press.
but I found it sometimes gets too cold,
and I cannot do it, but it is worth a try.
Otherwise, just kind of plop it in little
balls into the boiling water ... that I got
going on over here...
So, there is the pasta press.  Let me set up on
the water, and I will be right back.
Okay, this water is pretty much almost boiling...
That is good enough.  We are going to take
our pasta press and put it right on the
surface of the water and get a good hold
and start squeezing.  You see the
noodles coming out the bottom...I think you
can see that on the monitor.
You can make them as long or as short as
you want.  I usually take a knife
and cut them off.
And...after I cut them off, I swish them around in the water...just to make sure
that they do not stick together, and then we do
another batch until it is all out of
pasta press.  As the water boils,
you will see they get a little whiter and a
little bit firmer.
That is what you want.
and I have noticed, when the
mixture gets too cool and kind of
towards the end, if I have waited too
long to put it [the mixture] into the pasta press,
you will hear kind of a bubbly sound
because it is a little more difficult to
push it through the holes at the bottom
of the press.
...but that is all right.
We are making noodles! And, after we are all done
processing this batch,
I usually like to boil it between 15 and
30 minutes or so.  You can even let them boil
a little bit longer.
It does not matter.  They will still be
noodles.  That extra boiling time actually
just helps take out some of the pickling
lime taste, so if you are sensitive to
that or do not like it, just boil them a little
longer, and they should not have much, if any,
taste after that.
So there you go...there is shirataki
noodles homemade.  After the boiling is done,
just rinse them off in cold water.  Bag them up if you are not going to use
them right away.
Put some cool water in the bag, and store
them in the refrigerator.
Otherwise, if you are going to use them
right away, always dry fry your noodles.
That will help them firm up even more,
and put on whatever sauce or vegetables
or whatever you want.
Okay...this is a pan that has been heating a
little bit, and this is what we call
dry frying...
There is no oil in [the pan].  We are just going to
put these noodles in as they are,
and this helps get rid of some of the water
and firms up the texture.
I cut these a little bit before...in case
you are wondering why they are so short.
 
Because they are mostly water, they are going to make that sizzling sound.
and as a little bit of the water goes out, you will see
them getting a little firmer too.
I found, with [regard to] getting the taste in, this is the
best way to do it...is to dry fry them
first and then put on whatever
seasoning or oils you want --
that would help it get its flavor.
Otherwise, the other technique I have used is to soak them in broth or
bouillon overnight, and that gets a
little bit in--not a lot, but it helps
kind of form a base [flavor].
You can kind of see the water coming off in
little droplets.  You can make them as dry
as you want.
It just depends on the texture you want.  If you
do not want them really firm,
just do not fry them very much, but if you want them extra firm, just keep frying.
There are a lot of places on the web that have recipes
for shirataki and konnyaku (which is the block form
of these noodles), and I
will try to remember to put some links
so you can have a lot of different
sauces and recipes to work with
if you choose to make these.
Shirataki noodles, homemade.  :)
All right.  I will stop now.  Now you can go and experiment.
Thanks...bye!
