"Ultra-Slimming Fried Rice" Made with Shirataki Instead of Rice: Ryuji Explains How to Make It and Key Tips

At the start, Ryuji explains that this is a project to slim down after recently becoming thoroughly "metabo," or paunchy. When viewers who watch videos from five years ago comment that "five years ago you were really lean," Ryuji laughs it off, saying it's only natural to age over five years. Ryuji then frames the dish as a recipe not just for middle-aged men like Ryuji, but for anyone who wants to lose weight.

Filming proceeds in the usual style, with Ryuji drinking along the way. At one point, the staff point out that Ryuji "hasn't been taking any alcohol-free days" and "nearly skipped a shoot from drinking too much," and Ryuji apologizes. Ryuji says the drinking has been cut back lately.

One 200g pack of shirataki makes one serving. According to Ryuji, shirataki is cheap, so you can make a double batch and share it with someone. The meat is ground pork, but it doesn't have to be ground; pork belly or similar chopped finely is fine too. Green onion and eggs are also used. The eggs go in generously, two of them, because they're high in protein, which is good to get, and they add volume. The seasoning amounts are listed in the video description (1/3 tsp salt, 8 shakes of Ajinomoto, 4 shakes of pepper, 1 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sesame oil plus 1 tsp for finishing, and red pickled ginger).

As anyone who has used shirataki knows, it has a slightly gamey smell. Ryuji says that ordinarily you'd need to blanch it, but Buzz Recipe doesn't bother with anything that tedious. Washing it with tap water at around 40°C is enough to get rid of the smell. Ryuji adds that shirataki used to smell much stronger, but these days it's not so bad.

Neither Ryuji nor the staff have a clear answer about what causes the smell. They can only guess that it might have something to do with the process of solidifying konjac yam by reacting it with something, and Ryuji asks viewers who know more to explain. After washing, Ryuji stresses that it's important to squeeze out the water thoroughly.

The green onion is scored diagonally from both sides and then chopped into a fine mince. Ryuji explains that adding minced green onion like this to fried rice gives it a fresh note and makes it tastier.

While chopping the onion, Ryuji cautioned viewers. Eating nothing but shirataki or konjac is bad for digestion. Konjac also has little nutritional value, so you need to supplement it with things like eggs. Ryuji says shirataki dishes should be limited to about one meal a day, and making every meal like this is not good.

On a related note, Ryuji shared an episode involving a young viewer in their twenties or so. There's a "kyomu" ("nothingness") style abura soba recipe where you just add sauce to yakisoba noodles, heat them in the microwave, and top with an egg yolk. That viewer reportedly wrote in to say that the money saved this way let them buy a guitar. Ryuji's first thought was "Is your body okay?", and Ryuji told the viewer to eat other things too. It's cheap and saves money, but please don't keep eating only that. Ryuji says these are the kinds of things Ryuji will keep telling people.

The washed and squeezed shirataki is chopped on a cutting board until it's about the size of rice grains. Ryuji explains that it's tasty even just roughly cut, but chopping it makes it look like fried rice. Cutting from various directions gradually turns it into rice-grain shapes. Ryuji also says that if it's a hassle, there's no need to chop it this finely.

Once chopped, it looks to the staff like about two bowls' worth of rice. Ryuji says it's at least a large bowl of rice's worth, and since shirataki is filling, replacing one meal with this is good for dieting.

The conversation turned to the zero-carb konjac noodles sold in supermarkets. Ryuji's assessment is that, honestly, konjac noodles aren't very tasty. However, a 94 kcal dandan noodle–style konjac noodle Ryuji bought at a convenience store the other day when feeling a bit peckish was reasonably good, thanks to the seasoning. It was quite salty, but Ryuji felt it might be good for when you're a little hungry.

Since there's no rice to cook, once the mincing is done, all that's left is stir-frying. Ryuji jokes that it's almost worrying how short the video will be.

Put about 2 tsp of sesame oil in a frying pan. Using too much oil makes it high-calorie, so just a light coating is fine. Ryuji explains the choice of sesame oil like this: with ordinary rice, simply frying it produces the toasty aroma of browned rice. Shirataki doesn't produce that, so the idea is to give it the fragrance of being fried in sesame oil, which is toasty to begin with.

First, fry the ground meat until crisp and season lightly with salt and pepper. Any meat goes well, whether chicken or pork belly, as long as it's chopped fairly fine. Having the texture of meat makes it more like fried rice. Ryuji says shirataki dishes are a personal specialty, and when wanting to lose weight or after a run of eating out and overindulging, Ryuji eats something like this for lunch.

Push the meat to the side and add the shirataki. The key is to add the shirataki before the eggs; Ryuji explains that cooking off the shirataki's moisture creates the loose, separate-grain texture of fried rice. High heat is best, and this time it was cooked over medium-high heat.

As it fries, the shirataki starts to look like rice. Ryuji mentions that there's also a method of cutting carbs by mixing konjac-based rice-grain-shaped products into rice, and positions this recipe as essentially a version of that made entirely with konjac. On calories, Ryuji says shirataki has about 10 kcal, while a bowl of rice has around 300 kcal.

The oil spattered quite a bit during frying, and the staff described the rising steam as looking "like something out of Ghibli." Ryuji responded that if you don't like oil spatter, you can lightly wipe it away with a paper towel.

The eggs turn out nicer if beaten before adding. Pour the two eggs into the open space in the pan, and once they're half-set, mix everything together; the eggs coat the rest and it suddenly looks like fried rice.

Season with 1/3 tsp salt, 8 shakes of umami seasoning, and 4 shakes of regular pepper. Once mixed and seasoned, add the green onion. Next, drizzle 1 tsp of soy sauce around the edge of the pan. According to Ryuji, soy sauce adds toastiness. With shirataki, toastiness can be lacking, so it's better to add soy sauce. Ryuji draws a distinction: Ryuji's own "Ultimate Fried Rice" doesn't use soy sauce, but with shirataki it's better to include it.

Finally, lightly drizzle about 1 tsp of unheated sesame oil over it. This adds the aroma of raw sesame oil and makes it even more fragrant. Plate it, add red pickled ginger on the side, and it's done.

The advantage Ryuji highlighted for this fried rice is that it stays tasty even after time passes. Since it isn't rice, it doesn't harden or dry out when cold. That makes it good for bento, too. The calories come almost entirely from the oil, eggs, and meat, and the oil is kept quite low. Even so, it makes a really delicious fried rice, Ryuji says.

The tasting coincided with Ryuji's first beer in a week, after having had the flu. Ryuji joked that eating ultra-slimming fried rice and drinking beer makes it "net zero."

As soon as it was plated, the staff were surprised: "It looks completely like rice." Ryuji explained that sight is very important in cooking, and if something looks like fried rice, the brain recognizes it as fried rice. The staff who tasted it followed up with reactions like "Isn't this good enough?", "My brain is glitching," and "It doesn't feel off at all." Ryuji also said they'd like local Chinese diners to serve something like this, and wondered if someone would sell it as shirataki fried rice.

As for why it can use less oil than regular fried rice, Ryuji explains that because it's shirataki, it turns out loose and separate even without oil. It's not fried rice, but if you think of it as fried rice, it's fried rice, and if you don't, it makes a good snack with drinks. The staff said the bouncy texture was fun.

Ryuji has made tofu fried rice in the past, which went viral, but compared the two by saying shirataki is healthier than tofu. Ryuji also showed the range of variations, saying any fried rice seasoning works, so you could add whitebait or make it into kimchi fried rice or lettuce fried rice. Ryuji added that eating it as a closing snack with drinks would probably help you lose weight.

Toward the end of the tasting, Ryuji went over the key points of the recipe again. Regular fried rice is often made by adding beaten egg and then the rice and stir-frying. This recipe reverses the order: first fry the shirataki thoroughly with salt and pepper to drive off the moisture, then add the eggs. This lets the flavor really soak in and recreates the loose, separate texture, Ryuji says. Ryuji also values the fact that, with eggs and meat, you get quite a lot of protein.

Ryuji said the aim is to introduce recipes that are useful in everyday life, hoped this recipe would go viral, and said it would definitely be useful to everyone. And above all, saying it tastes delicious, Ryuji closed the video by urging viewers to try frying up some shirataki and making it themselves.