Microwaved Glass Noodles in a Three-Ingredient "Screw-It Glass Noodle Salad": Finished with Mayonnaise and Karashi Mayo

Recent videos have featured many elaborate recipes and reviews, and they had been getting longer. In light of that trend, Ryuji explains wanting to also offer shorter cooking videos that make just a single side dish.

The ingredients are 50g of glass noodles, 40g of ham, and 100g of cucumber. Saying "you don't need anything extra," Ryuji says that conceptually, these three alone are enough to make a glass noodle salad. Still, even if it's "screw-it," Ryuji adds that the cutting step is the one thing you should actually do. If you hate cutting, you can just use a slicer.

The cucumber is sliced thinly on the diagonal, then the slices are lined up again and cut into julienne strips. The cut is where Ryuji refuses to compromise. For a spaghetti salad, rounds are fine, but for glass noodle salad, julienne strips cling better to the noodles, so julienne is absolutely the way to go.

The ham is also cut to about the same thinness as the cucumber. These two are the minimum ingredients you need. You can use imitation crab or chicken tenderloin instead of cucumber, or add carrots or onions in addition to the ham. Swapping the ham for something else such as bacon is also delicious, and the stance is that you can freely use whatever you have left over.

A pinch of salt is sprinkled over the julienned cucumber. Ryuji cautions that a pinch is more than you might think. Instead of using a bowl, the salt is rubbed in right on the cutting board. This is to cut down on dishes; if you're going to call it "screw-it," you've got to do at least this much. Rubbing the cucumber draws out its water, which prevents the flavor from getting diluted later.

Partway through, Ryuji reconsiders and decides it would be better to put the cucumber in a bag, since squeezing it out would otherwise add effort and dishes. After transferring it to a bag and letting it sit for a bit, cutting off a corner of the bag with a knife and squeezing it out like a whipped cream piping bag releases a huge amount of water. It keeps coming so much that it's hard to know when to stop, so you can decide for yourself where to call it. After squeezing, you can throw the bag away, so there are no dishes. There was also a moment when water spilled from squeezing over the cutting board, and Ryuji cautioned viewers to do this over the sink.

Saying that boiling glass noodles is also a hassle, Ryuji uses the microwave. Put 50g of glass noodles in a heatproof container, whether a plate or a bowl, and pour in 400cc of tap water. It's fine if the noodles aren't fully submerged. Without covering with plastic wrap, heat at 600W for 5 minutes.

When the staff asked whether the noodles would come out mushy, Ryuji explained it like this: heating in the microwave brings the water to a boil, so it's the same as boiling in a pot. That makes glass noodles very well suited to microwave cooking. With pasta there are concerns such as it turning out floury, but glass noodles come out almost the same as boiled ones. The staff responded that this could also be applied to adding them to soup when you're feeling a little peckish.

After heating, the glass noodles were fully rehydrated. They are rinsed in water and chilled along with the bowl.

When the staff asked whether to cut the rehydrated noodles, Ryuji answered that for glass noodle salad, it's better to cut them. Long glass noodles are hard for children to eat and aren't very suitable as a snack with drinks either. These days, shorter types of glass noodles are also sold, and with those, there's no need to cut them.

After cutting, the noodles are squeezed thoroughly. Ryuji calls this "really important," because any water left in the noodles dilutes the flavor. The bowl used to chill the noodles is simply wiped dry and used as-is for tossing. The glass noodles, cucumber, and ham go in, and from here the seasoning begins.

Here are the seasonings and what Ryuji said about the role of each:

• Sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons: glass noodle salad tastes better slightly sweet
• Soy sauce, 2 teaspoons: the base of the flavor
• Salt, 1 pinch: to make it suited to drinking; if you prefer a lighter taste, you can leave it out
• Vinegar, 2 teaspoons: it tastes better with a little added
• Ajinomoto, 4 shakes: the source of umami; just adding this mellows the sourness of the vinegar
• Garlic powder, 6 shakes: a secret ingredient
• Pepper, 3 shakes: optional, but it makes it more of a drinking snack
• Toasted sesame seeds, about 3 pinches: rubbing them between your fingers as you add them brings out the aroma

Once everything is tossed, the staff chimes in: "I definitely think it needs sesame oil." After some back-and-forth about whether it had been left out of the recipe by mistake, they first taste it without sesame oil. Ryuji says it's plenty delicious as is, but that adding about 1 1/2 teaspoons of sesame oil changes the flavor dramatically. After adding it, Ryuji admitted, "Yeah, it's better with the oil." Adding more sesame oil strengthens the sesame aroma and richness. This time, though, just a little is enough, because there's something else being prepared to serve on the side.

Ryuji also says that the elements that define the flavor of glass noodle salad are mostly the cucumber and ham, so as long as you have those at minimum, you can make it.

For plating, just heap it into a dish. Gathering up every last bit with a spatula as you plate also makes it look neat. It can be refrigerated, so it's good for making ahead. Since it uses a generous amount of cucumber, about one whole cucumber, Ryuji says it's also excellent as a palate cleanser. If there isn't enough, you can just make another batch.

To finish, sprinkle on sesame seeds. You could add shredded chili threads if you have them, but since it's "screw-it," Ryuji skips them. Finally, a squeeze of mayonnaise is added on the side.

Ryuji and the staff take a bite and repeatedly exclaim, "It's good." One staff member was surprised: "I doubted you could drink alcohol with glass noodle salad, but you can."

Ryuji's explanation goes like this: the glass noodle salad sold at deli counters is a side dish meant to accompany a meal, so its seasoning is restrained. This time, there's a pinch of salt plus pepper and garlic powder, so the flavor is very much suited to drinking.

After eating it with mayonnaise mixed in, one staff member said it was so good it made them wonder, "Why have I never put mayonnaise on glass noodle salad before?" Ryuji says there probably isn't anyone who does this.

As the basis for the pairing, Ryuji pointed out that the base of this glass noodle salad is hiyashi chuka (chilled ramen) dressing. In the Chubu region, including Aichi, there's a custom of eating hiyashi chuka with mayonnaise on the side. Ryuji tried that with hiyashi chuka and got completely hooked, then figured it would go well with glass noodle salad too, tried it, and found that it actually did.

A staff member suggested that, with hiyashi chuka seasoning, karashi mustard might go well too, so they decided to try karashi mayo as well. Everyone who tasted it reacted with "So good." Ryuji said they had thought adding karashi might cancel out what's good about the mayonnaise, but that didn't happen. Ryuji praised the staff member's suggestion as a great play and even said, "Isn't this a hidden masterpiece?" One staff member also commented that it seems like it would keep for 2–3 days if made ahead.

The advantage of serving the mayonnaise and karashi on the side is also mentioned. Children can eat it as is, while adults can add mayonnaise or karashi mayo, so everyone can adjust their own portion after serving.

Ryuji wrapped up by saying that while it's a modest recipe, it's ridiculously delicious.