Ryuji Makes a "Fat-Burning Ajinomoto Bean Sprout Soup" After Gaining 3kg

Ryuji names review videos, shoots for copycat recipes, and business trips as the causes of his weight gain. Of these, he says business trips are the biggest factor. His explanation is that he eats a lot starting in the morning while traveling, so he gains weight. Many viewers have also commented that he's "gotten fat," and he accepts that, having gained 3kg, he can't blame them for saying so. He declares that he'll post more diet-meal videos until his weight comes back down, and this time he's making a fat-burning soup.

Ryuji notes that people have all sorts of opinions about cooking experts' body types. Some say you can't trust a thin cooking expert, or that a heavier one makes the food look tastier, while others think that if a cooking expert is overweight, "eating this person's food will make me fat too."

In response, Ryuji says his food is basically weight-loss food. The reason is that it's strongly flavored. Strongly flavored food satisfies you in small amounts, whereas lightly flavored food requires you to eat a lot before you feel satisfied. People say his recipes are heavily seasoned, but he says he designs them so that a small amount is satisfying.

He also talks about Ajinomoto. According to Ryuji, amino acids stimulate the satiety center, and there is data showing that consuming amino acids increases satisfaction so you feel full even on a small amount. By the same logic, he says, many manufacturers add amino acids to infant formula so babies don't drink too much. On that basis, he says that using Ajinomoto lets you feel satisfied with a small amount, so you can expect it to help with dieting. However, Ryuji himself adds, "There are various theories on this."

This soup, he says, is a copycat recipe of a garlic soup he co-developed with FamilyMart that was well received.

According to Ryuji, the key to diet meals is that the ingredients are cheap and the dish is easy to make. There are five ingredients: cabbage, bean sprouts, firm tofu, pork offcuts, and garlic. For the pork offcuts, choose leaner pieces, because pork belly will make you gain weight. If you want to be even stricter, sliced chicken works too. If you like bean sprouts, he says you can add about twice as many.

He positions garlic as an ingredient that boosts satisfaction. On the other hand, regarding the name "fat-burning," he explains that the soup doesn't actually burn fat. Rather, it means you can replace meals with a soup that combines vegetables and meat and still get your nutrients.

At one point, he catches himself drinking alcohol during the shoot. Ryuji says that, personally, he doesn't feel alcohol makes him gain much weight, because when he drinks he doesn't eat many snacks. Lately, though, he reflects, he's been eating a lot for research. He also shares an episode where he showed a friend an old video of his Napolitan spaghetti, and the friend said, "You're so thin," as if he were a different person.

He starts cooking with the garlic. He uses 20g, which you can adjust to taste. Mincing is a hassle, so he slices it.

Ryuji explains that the defining feature of fat-burning soup is using lean meat and not much oil. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use any oil at all, though. Fat is important for the body, and the worst thing, he says, is an "all-or-nothing" mindset. Approaches like cutting out all fat, all carbs, or all salt are not good. Oil is essential for the human body, and if you don't get any at all, you'll develop health problems. Ramen and rice are also said to make you fat, but if you never eat them at all, you'll become unhealthy, Ryuji says.

Ryuji points out that people don't want to study nutrition, so they're drawn to the idea of "just eat this and you'll be fine." He adds that he sometimes says "just eat this and you'll lose weight" himself, but that he also means "if you keep it up forever, you'll become unhealthy." This soup is balanced so that it's fine to keep eating it. It doesn't contain any carbs, though, so his position is that eating a small amount of rice elsewhere is probably fine.

He says rice bran oil is good for the oil. Vegetable oil is fine too, but rice bran oil adds more richness. He uses 1 tablespoon and says that amount is no problem for losing weight. For the meat, thigh or chicken is fine; choose cuts with little white fat.

He goes on to say that it's important to eat everything in moderation. When people decide to lose weight, they tend to restrict fried chicken, rice bowls, and ramen, but he wants them to eat those about once a week; otherwise, they really won't be able to keep it up. He admits he's not very convincing since he's currently overweight, but explains that he has to eat for work. He thinks he'd go back to normal if he quit his job, but jokes that everyone would be sad if he did.

He fries the garlic in oil until browned to make garlic chips. Strongly aromatic foods boost satisfaction, so Ryuji calls garlic a dieter's companion. The other companion, he says, is umami seasoning.

According to Ryuji, a great many people have lost weight with his recipes. Thinking about why, he suggests it may be because most diet recipes don't use umami seasonings. People who want to lose weight become more conscious about eating "good" food, so diet meals tend to get lumped together with organic, additive-free cooking that avoids umami seasonings. But Ryuji's view is that organic has nothing to do with losing weight, and that artificially made products can sometimes be more effective for dieting.

He turns off the heat before taking out the chips and sets them aside. If the leftover oil bothers you, you can discard it, but since it's infused with garlic aroma and there isn't much of it, Ryuji uses it as is.

He starts adding ingredients to the pot, beginning with the tofu. Ryuji says tofu is great for diet meals because it provides protein and is cheap, and he recommends firm over silken. When a staff member asks if it's because of the texture, Ryuji says yes, and explains that, more precisely, it's because it increases how many times you chew. Chewing well is said to stimulate the satiety center, and since firm tofu has more texture, you chew it far more, he reasons.

The staff member says chewing well also aids digestion, and reveals that they pay attention to it because the body changes with age, and that they make a point of walking. Ryuji acknowledges that if you can lose weight by walking, you should walk, and that doing it through diet alone is actually strange. He then laughs and says he wants to lose weight through diet alone anyway.

He roughly chops about 250g to 300g of cabbage. You can add as much as you like. The water is 700cc. Low ingredient cost is another key point, and Ryuji and the staff note that because it's cheap, it's easy to keep up.

The seasoning is very simple, and he says the result is a soup like motsunabe. He adds 3½ tablespoons of soy sauce, which provides the salt. The dashi would normally be Hondashi, but Ryuji uses 2 teaspoons of iriko (dried sardine) dashi, which he's been into lately. You can make it deliciously with Hondashi too, but he says iriko dashi adds more depth. A staff member says they use iriko dashi too, and its low price also gets praise. Ryuji says iriko dashi can stand in for Hondashi in almost every case, and recommends it because it gives a different flavor from usual.

He then adds Ajinomoto. Adding umami increases satisfaction, so Ryuji says boosting satisfaction by adding glutamic acid is quite effective.

Once it comes to a boil, he says it's basically done when the cabbage and meat are cooked through. Asked about variations with other vegetables, he says you can add anything, and particularly recommends mushrooms, which he says are guaranteed to go well.

Asked why he adds the meat at this point rather than at the start, Ryuji explains that it gets tough if overcooked. You can add it after the cabbage has cooked, and shabu-shabu-style thigh meat is fine too. You could add garlic chives, but since he wants to keep it cheap this time, he adds two bags of inexpensive bean sprouts. He says this much vegetables is just right.

Rather than thinking in terms of servings per person, it makes 5 to 6 meals' worth, since it's meant for meal-replacement dieting. Finally, he returns the garlic chips to the pot and adds black pepper. Coarsely ground or powdered is fine, but Ryuji says to add "three times as much as you think." The bean sprouts on top are still raw, but they cook quickly. The crispy garlic is sunk into the soup and eaten. Pork offcuts tend to stick together, but that's fine as long as you pull them apart.

During the tasting, they talk about how prominent the garlic is and how much depth the Ajinomoto umami adds. Asked whether the flavor feels weak, Ryuji says no. He repeats his theory from the opening: it's better to make it strongly flavored and stop at one bowl than to make it weak and eat five. He says it doesn't feel lacking at all.

Ryuji says that normally, satisfaction doesn't go up without oil. This soup is motsunabe-style yet has little oil. He shares his view that the reason it's still satisfying is the effect of the Ajinomoto. The aroma of the iriko and the fish flavor are also good, and he says using iriko was the right call. With Hondashi, he says, it might have been a bit lighter. A staff member describes it as having "zero guilt."

During the tasting, there's also some lighthearted teasing about the staff's body types, with each side telling the other, "Be a little more considerate."

To change up the flavor, he adds a little "Majisuko," a product Ryuji sells. After touching on the effects of capsaicin, he says it adds acidity and umami for even more satisfaction, and that the subtle heat is nice. Even after eating this much, he feels zero guilt, and says he's already quite full.

Finally, he offers serving suggestions. You can eat it on its own, or, since the flavor is designed to go with rice, serve a smaller portion of rice alongside it. You can also simmer noodles in the leftover soup to finish the meal, and adding konjac noodles or zero-carb noodles is also very good, he says. The video ends with him calling on viewers not to suppress their appetites during autumn, the season of hearty appetites, and to diet together with him using this soup.