Ryuji's "Low-Key Umenagashi" for Getting His Weight Back Down, Plus Two Oil-Free Side Dishes

Ryuji's stance, however, is not "authentic umenagashi." He repeatedly stresses keeping it low-effort, using no expensive ingredients, and making it something that fits into everyday meals. Besides the umenagashi, the video also includes daikon greens tossed with nori, made at the request of a staff member who was present, and soy sauce eggs with green onions to make up for protein.

Umenagashi is a dish made with daikon, umeboshi, and dashi. The staff member describes it as a "fasting recovery meal." This staff member says they took a fasting course about ten years ago and even tried to get certified. It is also mentioned that they used to make their own miso. According to Ryuji, there are originally rules about things like when to eat it. But "if you specify all that, nobody will do it," so he says it's better to work it smoothly into daily meals.

As for why he chose this dish, Ryuji points out that it has almost no calories. The daikon and soup fill you up. On the other hand, it alone doesn't provide enough protein. So he decided to add a simple boiled egg dish.

Partway through, the staff member looked up why plum and daikon are supposed to detox you and said the citric acid in the plum is apparently good. Ryuji responded that his basic way of thinking is "if the calories are low, you'll lose weight." He isn't expecting any special detox effect; what matters, he says, is the will to lose weight. He added that if you want citric acid, you can just buy citric acid itself and drink it. Also, eating only this every day would unbalance your nutrition. So Ryuji's view is that he wants people to take it on as something like "this kind of meal is nice once in a while."

The ingredients are daikon and umeboshi. As for the umeboshi, Ryuji says it's better to avoid the honey-sweetened kind if you can. The reason is that he doesn't like them himself. He recommends choosing ones that aren't sweet. He used Hojuku Ume with 8% salt, available at supermarkets.

Ryuji points out that umeboshi vary in salt content from product to product, which is the tricky part. Old-style umeboshi sometimes had well over 10%. What's in supermarkets now is mostly 8–12%, and since salt reduction has progressed, many are around 8%, he says. This difference in saltiness comes into play when adjusting the dashi later.

With the pits removed, the plums came to about 35 g. "A bit heavy on the plum," he says. Some recipes add them whole, but Ryuji says he prefers to chop them finely with a knife so they blend into the soup. That way you can eat them together with the soup.

He uses about 300 g of daikon, and any part will do. Whether a part is sweet only matters when eating it raw; once it's simmered, you won't notice, Ryuji says. He cuts it into quarter-rounds and doesn't peel it.

He says people who make umenagashi tend to be highly health-conscious and often insist, "You absolutely must peel it." Even so, Ryuji says he wants to champion "lazy umenagashi." If it's a hassle, you won't keep up with diet food. So his attitude is that he'll teach the easiest way. That said, when he tasted it later, the skin parts were still a little firm. So Ryuji adds that people who want to save time might want to peel it.

He puts 500 cc of water (2 servings) in a pot and adds the daikon and chopped plum while the water is still cold.

What Ryuji called "the problem starting here" is how to make the dashi. People who make umenagashi are highly health-conscious, and many try to avoid additives. So they usually make dashi from kombu sheets and katsuobushi. From what Ryuji has seen, almost everyone uses kombu and katsuobushi, or katsuobushi alone, and not many use granulated Hondashi.

But Ryuji wondered whether people really keep that much kombu on hand. Kombu is expensive. Ryuji says he doesn't want diet food to be "something only for people with money." His motivation is to propose a low-key umenagashi so people feel that it's fine to lose weight even if they don't live a meticulous lifestyle.

At first he intended to combine Hondashi and granulated kombu dashi. But after adding about 1 teaspoon of kombu dashi, it was already quite salty. Since this is a dish where you drink the soup too, adding Hondashi would make it too salty. So he changed course and decided that the combination of kombu dashi and katsuobushi works best. Ordinary katsuobushi such as hanakatsuo is fine. About 3 g—at about 1 g per pinch, roughly 3 pinches. Ryuji explains that he prefers to eat umenagashi with the flavor of the dashi.

Regarding additives, he confirms that the ingredients of the store-bought umeboshi list "seasoning (amino acids, etc.)." Ryuji explains that this means umami seasoning. Since using umeboshi already means umami seasoning is in there, he says, "Just give up on that," and also states his own view that additives are not bad for the body.

All that's left is to simmer it. Since the skin is on, he says to simmer it for about 15–20 minutes. If the liquid is boiling off, put a lid on. If it goes down, just add water.

It also came up that umenagashi is originally meant to be eaten on its own. With that in mind, Ryuji emphasizes that they aren't trying to fast. What they really want is to replace meals like the noodles or soba they usually eat with this and lose weight without strain. He said that's his true intention and that this time he'd also add side dishes.

The first side dish is daikon greens tossed with nori, made at the staff member's request. The staff member had previously watched a video from the YouTube channel "Ichininmae Shokudo." It was about using up a whole daikon, and the furikake made from the greens looked delicious, they said.

Ryuji chops the greens finely. Normally he'd stir-fry them in sesame oil, but since this is diet food, he uses no oil. Not olive oil either—he uses water. Ryuji calls this "water sautéing" and explains it's the lowest-calorie method.

He tears one sheet of nori into it, adds 1/3 teaspoon of Hondashi and 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce, and simmers it. Seasoned nori is fine too, but in that case, cut back on the seasonings. The nori dissolves with the liquid and turns gooey, becoming something like tsukudani. Since the nori itself also releases umami, only a little Hondashi is needed, he says.

According to Ryuji, this was an improvised recipe he came up with on the spot. Even going by the filming time, it was done in about 5 minutes, so you can make it while the umenagashi is simmering. It goes well with rice, and people with leftover daikon greens can make a lot of it.

The second dish is boiled eggs. Ryuji wants to eat them soft-boiled, so he starts them in already boiling water. Hard-boiled isn't bad, but he just really likes soft-boiled, he says.

He also explains the steps in detail. Add a little vinegar to the water. This makes the shells easier to peel later. Pour hot water over the eggs beforehand to eliminate the temperature difference. This makes them less likely to crack. Gently lower them into the boiling water, and once the shells have warmed up, reduce to a calmer heat. A rolling boil will crack the shells, so on an induction stove he sets it to about medium, he says.

As for the boiling time, Ryuji says 7.5 to 8 minutes is best. This time he first set it for 7 minutes, then, thinking it might be too soft, extended it a little and took them out at around 7.5 minutes. Cooling them quickly makes them easier to peel. Showing them peeling off smoothly, Ryuji declared that adding vinegar is the easiest way to get boiled eggs to peel. There are various methods, but this is the best, he says.

While the eggs were boiling, Ryuji talked about people who aren't good at cooking. People who aren't good at cooking don't have the instinct to add water when the liquid goes down. Many people can only do what they're told, and that can't be helped, he says. Making three dishes at once requires task management, and some people can do it and some can't. Those who can't end up hating cooking. That's why he explains each dish carefully, one at a time, Ryuji says.

He also says that being able to whip up dishes quickly is a talent. If you say to the person cooking, "Why can't you do something like this?" or "Why can't you do it faster?", that person will come to hate cooking. In a forceful tone, he said those who eat should shut up and wait, not ask whether it's ready yet, and if they have complaints, hand over some money. He added that he is on the side of the people who cook, and that you can tell them "Ryuji said so."

As for how to eat boiled eggs, Ryuji says tossing them with oil is the easiest. But since he doesn't want to use oil this time, he goes with a way he doesn't often eat them.

He combines about 15 g of chopped green onions with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 3 shakes of Ajinomoto. Ryuji's judgment is that it's better to add umami. Ponzu was also an option, but since the umenagashi is sour, everything would end up tart. So he went with soy sauce.

Ryuji explains that the weakness of boiled eggs is that the eggs themselves have no flavor. So making something like a sauce that's easy to spoon on top makes them really delicious. You can add sansho pepper to taste, and on this day he used House Foods' grater-type sansho. You could drizzle on sesame oil too, but he doesn't use it this time. He spoons a little of the green onion onto each halved egg, drizzles soy sauce over the top, and it's done. Even though they haven't been marinated, they taste like soy sauce eggs, he says. This is the protein component of this meal.

Between steps, Ryuji said his recent cooking "doesn't feel like me." It changes with age, and he's now making things with plenty of dashi and less salt. People who liked his early recipes will probably drift away, he says. Still, he says he does still make rich, heavy dishes.

Around Christmas he made nothing but Western food and got sick of it. He also mentioned being shocked when people said his cooking was unhealthy. Lately he eats a lot when dining out, so at home he eats pretty much this kind of food, he says. The "makanai" format is one where he introduces what he actually eats day to day. That's why many viewers say it's "the most useful," Ryuji and the staff member say.

When he tasted it partway through simmering, the liquid had boiled off. The parts near the skin were slightly firm. Ryuji decided to simmer it for about 5 more minutes and added water since it had become sour. As for the firmness, he also said it's nice to have this much bite.

If it's not salty enough you can add salt, but Ryuji himself says it's plenty. For those who want a bit more umami, he added another pinch of kombu dashi, bringing it to 1 1/4 teaspoons in the end. It tastes better with about that much, he says. Ryuji's assessment is that with the skin on, simmering it for about 20 minutes tastes better.

For plating, "just put it in a bowl." Ryuji says whether it's for one or two people, you can eat it straight from the pot. Ryuji's view is that diet food and health set the bar too high. The lower the bar, the fewer the barriers to newcomers. He said it's the same for any content or any dish, and that he doesn't want cooking to belong only to people who are good at it.

He prepared a half portion of rice, about 100 g. The staff member who ate the umenagashi said it was sour but gentle, and rated the soup as just right, not too salty. Because there's a lot of plum flesh, the sourness is distinct, but with the dashi coming through, it doesn't feel too sour, they said.

Ryuji says people who are fasting can just eat this alone, and that he's the type who's fine with just this too. The staff member, on the other hand, said people who can replace a meal are amazing. According to Ryuji, the staff member is the type who absolutely hates going without carbs.

From here the talk turned to carbohydrates. According to the staff member, back when they were slim, they didn't eat karaage or strongly flavored stir-fries. Those get boring on their own, so you want to pair them with rice. Because they didn't want to eat rice, they didn't eat things that go with rice in the first place, focused on Japanese food, and regulated themselves, they said. Ryuji replied, "Karaage is a drinking snack, not something to eat with rice."

Ryuji's advice is to get your body used to going without carbs. Specifically, it's better to be able to eat one meal a day with no carbohydrates at all. He says that's what he did when he was at his slimmest. The staff member responded that they had also lived without eating carbs at night.

According to Ryuji, the Japanese diet is skewed toward carbohydrates—bread, rice, noodles, soba, and so on. In reality, he says, you're partly covered by things like the panko on fried foods and the potato starch used in dishes. However, he also says cutting them out completely isn't good. Ryuji's argument is that about half of a normal menu is enough. On the other hand, at the end he also said, "Eat whatever you want," adding that as long as you're happy that's fine, and if you gain weight, that's on you.

Both of them rated the daikon greens tossed with nori as "delicious." The nori goes well with it, there's no bitterness, and it's easy to eat. If anything, it makes you want more rice, they said. The staff member said that apparently many people throw away daikon greens, so they'd like people to use them this way. Other uses that came up included putting it on chilled tofu and having it as a snack with drinks.

The soy sauce eggs with green onions were something Ryuji was making for the first time too. After eating them, Ryuji described them as being like the marinated eggs at a good restaurant or a small traditional eatery, and said the flavor works well as a drinking snack too. He also said they're the kind of flavor that makes you want rice even when you're trying to avoid it. Even so, the two agreed that because the umenagashi is satisfying, half a portion of rice, about 100 g, is plenty.

At the end of the video, the staff member moved on to other work. Ryuji also had a meeting afterward and said that unless he films in between, he can't post every day. He wrapped up by encouraging viewers to try this "diet food" as a meal amid a hectic daily life.