Ryuji's "Ultimate Kenmin Yaki Bifun": Made in One Frying Pan with Added Garlic and Oyster Sauce

According to Ryuji, Kenmin Yaki Bifun is a pre-seasoned rice vermicelli, and his grandmother used to make it for him often when he was a child. The packaging may have changed, he says, but it's simply a delicious product. A staff member present knew the name but had never eaten it.

For the staff member unfamiliar with rice vermicelli, Ryuji explains that it is "rice noodles." Old-school Chinese restaurants often have it on the menu, he says. When the staff member asked whether it was a noodle like pho, he immediately answered, "Completely different." Pho is also a rice noodle, but it's somewhat thicker and flat, he says. He adds that pad thai noodles are also made from rice flour, and speculates that since they're made from rice flour, they're "probably gluten-free, I guess."

The quantities are for two servings; for one serving, simply halve them.

Any mushroom will do, but Ryuji recommends wood ear mushrooms for their texture. If you don't have them, shimeji or oyster mushrooms are fine. A key point is to soak dried wood ear mushrooms in water to rehydrate them, and the amount used is 6g. He buys them in bulk on Amazon, so he can use them anytime.

For vegetables, he uses about 40g of carrot, about 150g of cabbage, and Japanese leek. The cabbage that day was spring cabbage, and with the core removed it comes to about 150g. Pork belly would also be delicious, but he says pork scraps (komagire) are more than enough to make it tasty.

Another important ingredient is garlic. It isn't listed on the package, but Ryuji says it's better with it. During filming, he was cooking while drinking his second can of alcohol.

Cut the carrot into thin strips. You can leave it out, but it adds color, so he says it's better to include it. Roughly chop the cabbage and slice the Japanese leek on the diagonal. The leek adds a nice aroma, so it's better to include it, but garlic chives are fine too.

As for choosing ingredients, Ryuji says you can generally assume that anything "that would taste good in yakisoba" will work. Since this one is soy sauce–flavored, the flavor profile is closer to Shanghai-style fried noodles than to sweet sauce yakisoba.

Garlic is the key to this arrangement, he says. Ryuji used to cook homemade meals at a nursing care facility about twice a week. The rice vermicelli he served there was very popular. That time it wasn't the Kenmin product but ordinary rice vermicelli, but he still used garlic, putting in a generous 15g or so. Since the rice vermicelli itself is delicious, this time too he explains that adding 2–3 cloves, about 15–20g, brings out the aroma. He also adds that it's still delicious without it for those who don't like garlic.

The wood ear mushrooms are thin, so roughly chop them. Season the pork scraps with salt and pepper. Since the cutting board is full of ingredients, he just cuts the meat with scissors.

In between steps, there was also a moment where he jokingly said that telling the staff "We're having rice vermicelli today, I can't wait" makes it taste better. The reasoning: the person cooking tries harder when they're expected to deliver.

Put 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a frying pan and stir-fry the garlic. Browning it a little gives it a nice aroma, he says. The product is already delicious with its soy sauce flavor, but because soy sauce and garlic pair so well, he goes with this arrangement. The toasty aroma of sesame oil is added on top of that. Ryuji reflects that this process is pretty similar to how he used to make it at the nursing home.

When a staff member asked, "Do you rehydrate the rice vermicelli in a separate pot?" Ryuji answered, "It goes straight into the frying pan." It's a method completed entirely in one frying pan.

Next, stir-fry the pork, then add the carrot and Japanese leek. According to Ryuji, Kenmin's official method doesn't stir-fry the vegetables; the basic approach is to place them on top of the rice vermicelli. However, he thinks the carrot and pork are better stir-fried first. The leek is good to include for its aroma; this time he used the green part, which he says becomes delicious if stir-fried well.

At this point, add the oyster sauce. It isn't on the package, but adding it gives depth, he says. Next, add the cabbage and wood ear mushrooms. When a staff member asked when the soy sauce goes in, Ryuji answered, "It's already in here," because the rice vermicelli itself is seasoned. The cabbage will be steamed afterward, so a light stir-fry is enough.

Add the hard, dry rice vermicelli as is, then add water. For two packs, it's 340cc. He stressed that the amount of water differs between one pack and two packs, so follow the amount written on the package. Ryuji says that having the noodles absorb the liquid feels the same as his one-pan pasta.

Since you want the noodles to absorb the water, push the vegetables to the side. That way, the vegetables also get steamed by the broth and come out just right, he says. At first he started to say "no lid," but noticed the package said to "cover and steam-fry," so he covered it and cooked over medium heat for about 3 minutes. He says he usually ends up making it while flipping it around.

While it steamed, Ryuji explained that rice vermicelli came over from China, which is why it's found at Chinese restaurants. However, he also says there are probably fewer Chinese restaurants serving it these days. Unseasoned rice vermicelli is white and sold in large commercial bags. The usual method is to rehydrate it with hot water or the like and then stir-fry it, which makes it well suited to large-batch cooking. That was the type he made at the nursing home, and he recalls that some residents were genuine fans. Kenmin Yaki Bifun differs in that the soy sauce seasoning is already included.

After about 3 minutes, the noodles have absorbed the water and can be loosened. Ryuji says the key point of this product is that the noodles absorb all the liquid.

According to Ryuji, when he introduced a Kenmin product (japchae) in a video segment featuring Lawson products, Kenmin reached out saying, "Please give our products a try if you'd like." He ate yaki bifun for the first time in a long while and found it delicious, which led to this segment. One staff member said they had been buying the japchae ever since that segment.

Once the liquid is almost gone, sprinkle with black pepper. Ryuji uses black pepper because he wants a kick. Plated, it makes an amount you'd hardly imagine from the small package at the start. Ryuji says it expands quite a bit as it absorbs water, so it's an amount the whole family will be happy with. If you like spicy food, drizzling on chili oil makes it "the ultimate drinking snack," he says.

Staff member "A-ko" also joined the tasting. Ryuji says many young people today may never have eaten rice vermicelli. With that in mind, he said that since it also lets you eat plenty of vegetables, rice vermicelli could have a bit more of a place in home cooking repertoires.

After eating, Ryuji says, "Yeah, it's really good." Because of the oyster sauce, it has intensity and richness, and the garlic aroma comes through too, he says. Staff remarked that the noodles are thinner than yakisoba and easier to eat. Ryuji described it as the kind of product his grandparents' generation would eat, and recalled that it used to have TV commercials, but the staff didn't know the commercials.

When a staff member said, "It makes me want rice," Ryuji answered, "Some people eat this as a side dish." Many people eat it the way they would mapo harusame (glass noodles), he says. Regarding how well-seasoned it is throughout, he explained that with ordinary rice vermicelli you'd have to add soy sauce and oyster sauce and stir-fry them together to get this flavor, so a pre-seasoned product is easy. He had expected it to be much stickier since it's made in one frying pan, but it isn't sticky at all, which Ryuji described as "mysterious technology."

Someone also remarked that they had thought the amount would be too much, but they could eat it more easily than expected. Ryuji says you can put in whatever vegetables you like. Napa cabbage is also delicious, and you can throw in all your leftover vegetables. He also agreed with seafood, which a staff member brought up, saying a seafood mix, shrimp, or squid go very well with it. He also said he thinks it suits him to take long-established products, refine them, and introduce them.

His answer to what else to add was vinegar. Since it basically tastes like soy sauce yakisoba, a few drops of vinegar make it more refreshing and help you keep eating, he says. The staff also liked it as a flavor change.

Ryuji concluded that if you add plenty of vegetables, this rice vermicelli gives you vegetables, meat, and noodles all in one plate, making it very convenient for lunch or for busy people.

Finally, he mentioned that Lawson has recently been selling frozen yaki bifun, and on closer inspection it turned out to be made by Kenmin. He hasn't tried it yet but is curious about it. Kenmin appears to make a variety of rice-flour noodle products such as japchae, and there are other flavors such as salt, so he encouraged viewers to try them if they're interested, and ended the video.