Two Kinds of Mala Tang at Home: Ryuji's Method for When "Once You Master the Soup, You'll Stop Going to Restaurants"

Ryuji's position is clear. What matters in mala tang is the soup base, and once you can make that, all you need is to gather the ingredients and you'll never need to go to a restaurant again. The discussion goes beyond the method itself to adjusting spiciness and saltiness, and even how to think about liquid quantities.

According to Ryuji, mala tang falls broadly into two styles: a salty, spicy soup close to hot pot, and a cloudy white soup made with soy milk. This time, the spicy one is made as "Ultimate Mala Tang," and the soy milk version as a milder "Soy Milk Mala Tang." Any of the ingredients can go with either soup, and Ryuji says, "It's fine to mix it all up."

The quantities are one serving each, just as in restaurants. Hot pot and other nabe dishes are often made for two or three people, but mala tang is a one-bowl-per-person dish, so the recipe follows suit. The soup method is nearly identical for both; the differences are the soy milk and some of the seasonings.

On ingredients, Ryuji repeats, "Honestly, anything is fine," since even restaurants don't have fixed ingredients. Still, there are some guidelines for combinations. Ryuji thinks a lineup of protein such as meat or seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, and processed foods works well.

The spicy soup gets pork belly, bok choy, wood ear mushrooms, Malony, and frozen gyoza. Ryuji recommends the frozen gyoza, saying they go "insanely well." The soy milk soup gets chicken thigh meatballs, komatsuna, maitake mushrooms, thin mung bean glass noodles, and shrimp. A seafood mix works instead of shrimp too; Ryuji prepared it thinking it would be better to include seafood as well.

For greens, besides bok choy, komatsuna, napa cabbage, or spinach also work, and Ryuji says it tastes better with green vegetables in it. Kamaboko and oden fish cakes are also surprisingly good, Ryuji says, giving the example that restaurants also lay out ingredients like orange and white hanpen. It would actually be harder to find something that doesn't go with it—probably only sweet things like bananas or apples are off-limits. Anything that could go in a hot pot "will definitely work."

During filming, there was a moment where one staff member said they had never been to a mala tang restaurant, which surprised Ryuji. Ryuji has been to such restaurants many times "for study, since I'm a culinary researcher." Looking back, Ryuji recalls that the customers were mostly young women, with couples making up the rest, and middle-aged men rarely came alone.

Ryuji stresses that the glass noodles, which play the role of noodles, are "completely different" depending on whether you use Malony or ordinary mung bean glass noodles. Malony is made from potato starch, giving it a chewy texture. Thin glass noodles, on the other hand, are made from mung beans, so their composition is fundamentally different.

There's a reason for choosing between them. Smooth, thin glass noodles pick up the soup easily, so Ryuji judged that they suit the thicker soy milk soup better and put them in the Soy Milk Mala Tang. The guideline amount for both is about 30–40 g, and those who want a hearty bowl can use more. Ryuji adds that the easiest option is to use glass noodles sold in single-serving bundles.

Rehydrate the wood ear mushrooms in hot water. People often ask whether cold water won't do, but hot water rehydrates them faster. Bok choy has dirt trapped in the base when you split it, so wash it well and cut it into large pieces, using about 100 g per serving. Ryuji says they cut the pork belly with as little knife work as possible because they don't want to put meat on the cutting board.

The chicken meatballs for the soy milk soup are made simply by kneading about 80 g of ground chicken thigh with a pinch of salt. No potato starch is needed—"meatballs made of just meat are the best," Ryuji says. When a staff member asked whether they'd really hold together, Ryuji replied, "Easily," explaining that pepper is fine to add but salt alone is enough. This amount makes about six meatballs. Ground chicken breast is also good, but thigh is "ridiculously good."

Thaw the shrimp in salt water and remove the veins with a toothpick. You only need to remove the parts you can see. Leaving some in isn't a problem, but Ryuji dislikes it so much that they'd never go back to a restaurant that didn't devein its shrimp, so it's better to remove as much as you can.

Making the soup starts with oil. Here, Ryuji explains why they use rice oil. In this soup, the oil is what gives it richness. Since a fair amount is used, the richness of the finished dish differs between salad oil and rice oil. Rice oil is light and not heavy in flavor, so Ryuji recommends it if possible.

Ryuji supposes that in China some restaurants probably make the soup with beef tallow, but beef tallow would likely be too heavy for most Japanese palates. That's why many mala tang restaurants in Japan also use vegetable oil. Sesame oil is not used, because its aroma is too strong and "it ends up tasting completely of sesame oil." If you like sesame oil, though, drizzling some on at the end is delicious.

Per serving, sauté 10 g of minced garlic (about 2 cloves) and 10 g of ginger in 1 tablespoon of rice oil. Garlic and ginger form the foundation of the soup, so Ryuji considers them must-haves. Use low heat. Burning them brings out bitterness and an unpleasant garlic smell, so if you burn them, Ryuji says you should start over.

Next, add doubanjiang and sauté it. Ryuji uses 1 tablespoon, but those who don't handle spice well should try 2 teaspoons first—which is still quite spicy. When a staff member asked whether the doubanjiang goes in after the water, Ryuji replied that frying it in oil brings out its aroma, so this stage is the best time to add it.

To the question of how to tone down the heat, Ryuji answers as follows. The source of the spiciness is the doubanjiang, so the only option is to increase or decrease it. However, something with no doubanjiang at all isn't mala tang. Note that changing the amount of doubanjiang changes the saltiness along with the heat. Ryuji explains that doubanjiang is a fermented seasoning made from fava beans, something like miso. So you can make up for any reduction with miso, soy sauce, or salt. The simplest substitution, Ryuji says, is to make the 1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) into 2 teaspoons of doubanjiang and 1 teaspoon of miso.

Here, Ryuji states that getting good at cooking means "adjusting flavors to your own taste." The channel has been running for a long time, so now it's time for viewers to find their own flavors, and Ryuji will teach the adjustment methods to help them do so.

After sautéing the doubanjiang, add 300 cc of water and put in the ingredients. The pork, bok choy, and gyoza can go in frozen. Tearing the wood ear mushrooms by hand makes them look more appetizing, and the moment they go in, "it suddenly looks like mala tang."

For seasoning, use 2/3 teaspoon of Marudori Gara Soup and 2/3 teaspoon of Chuka Aji, half and half, since combining the two gives the flavor more depth. Next comes what Ryuji calls "super important": Sichuan pepper. Ground Sichuan pepper is sold in stores, so add half a teaspoon of that. Five-spice powder is optional, but just two light shakes completely changes the aroma, giving it an "oriental" fragrance. Finally, add 2/3 teaspoon of soy sauce and a little sugar for sweetness, and finish with one dried chili pepper.

Ryuji changed how the Malony was handled partway through. If you add it as is, it takes a long time to soften and soaks up the soup's liquid unnecessarily. So Ryuji dipped it in water once before adding it. Soaking it for a long time in advance makes adjusting the liquid a hassle, so a quick wetting is enough. Ryuji recommends viewers wet it during prep. After tasting, Ryuji said, "It's pretty spicy—this is what mala tang is," emphasizing that the method is surprisingly easy.

The steps for the soy milk version are almost the same. Sauté the garlic and ginger in rice oil, reduce the doubanjiang to 2 teaspoons, and add 1 teaspoon of miso. Ryuji expects it to be much milder since soy milk goes in.

Add 180 cc of water and 120 cc of soy milk, plus 2/3 teaspoon each of Marudori Gara Soup and Chuka Aji. Also add half a teaspoon of ground Sichuan pepper, two shakes of five-spice powder, 2/3 teaspoon of soy sauce, and 1/3 teaspoon of sugar. Freshly ground Sichuan pepper is fine too. The seasonings were kept the same so that the two versions are easy to compare.

For ingredients, add the chicken meatballs—which Ryuji calls the "Six Dumpling Brothers"—komatsuna, maitake, and shrimp. The glass noodles have been soaking in water but go in before they're fully softened. As it simmers, something like scum rises to the surface, but this comes from the soy milk, so there's no need to worry. Finally, wanting a little red color, Ryuji drizzles on chili oil to finish.

While cooking, the conversation turned to spicy food. A staff member said that the day before they had eaten a dish loaded with chili peppers and that it was delicious even though it made them sweat. Ryuji responded that spicy food provides capsaicin, so you can expect some health benefits too.

Asked how it differs from hot pot soup, Ryuji answered, "It's almost the same." Ryuji gave three differences: hot pot is eaten with dipping sauce; some mala tang restaurants also offer sauce, but mala tang uses a wider range of ingredients; and mala tang is a single-person pot. Ryuji has made a hot pot recipe before, and comparing the recipes, the two are quite close. The restaurants Ryuji went to didn't use sauce, so Ryuji decided sauce wasn't necessary this time either.

Ryuji says you can skim the scum or not. It does have an effect, but either way it's delicious.

Prompted by a question about whether the glass noodles shouldn't be rehydrated in water, Ryuji starts talking about cooking philosophy in general. The term "rehydrate" isn't accurate—what you're actually doing is "letting it absorb water." You can let it absorb water beforehand, or let it draw liquid from the soup without pre-soaking. As long as the total liquid needed in the end is there, either way is fine. When a staff member confirmed that this meant putting it in as is and adding water if the liquid runs low, Ryuji said yes.

According to Ryuji, whether you're good at cooking depends greatly on whether you can calculate the moisture content of ingredients. People who can think rationally are good cooks and are fine without following a recipe exactly. Those who can't should just follow the recipe. Ryuji believes that in cooking, "as long as you decide on your landing point, you can do anything." Ryuji also said that people who claim "this is the right answer" haven't arrived anywhere, explaining that there are many ways to reach the goal, such as sautéing first or simmering. At the same time, Ryuji self-deprecatingly admitted that in this mode they become "a pain" and stop sounding like a culinary researcher, which isn't good.

When a staff member said this was hard for amateurs, Ryuji compared it to education. Naturally you can't understand high school classes from the start; you have to begin at nursery school. Ryuji has run this channel as a nursery school, but sometimes wants to move viewers up a grade. The metaphor is that, ultimately, Ryuji wants them to graduate from university and enter the working world. Having made plenty of beginner videos already, Ryuji wants long-time viewers to move on to the next stage.

For those who have reached an intermediate level, Ryuji recommends looking at recipes that take more effort, whether Ryuji's own or from other channels. The names mentioned were Mr. Kasahara and, for those who want to learn flavors different from Ryuji's, Akari Hasegawa. Exposure to recipes that don't use umami seasonings, for example, broadens your range of flavors.

Ryuji first tried the Ultimate Mala Tang and admitted, "It's good but spicy." A tablespoon of doubanjiang is indeed spicy, but this is the level Ryuji likes. A staff member commented that, judging from the ingredients, they had imagined a light flavor, but it was surprisingly rich. Ryuji explained that this is the richness of the rice oil. When the staff member said they had assumed sesame oil was used since it's Chinese food, Ryuji replied that deliberately leaving out sesame oil is a personal point of principle. The key is eating it with rice oil infused with the garlic, ginger, and heat of the doubanjiang.

Another staff member liked this level of spiciness. Ryuji guessed that restaurants probably make it about half as spicy, and recommended that those who don't handle heat well start by replacing half the doubanjiang with miso.

Of the Soy Milk Mala Tang, staff said it was "totally different" and "just mildly spicy." Compared with Malony, the thin glass noodles felt less like noodles and more like one of the ingredients. Someone also commented that they had expected something like dan dan noodles, but without sesame it was a soup with richness and umami. A staff member who doesn't handle spice well also said it was "not spicy at all," and the chicken meatballs were well received too. Ryuji added that the salt-kneaded chicken meatballs are also delicious in store-bought hot pot soup.

Ryuji says the soy milk version seems likely to appeal to women, but men would probably like it too. However, as someone who loves spicy food, Ryuji overwhelmingly prefers the first one, the Ultimate Mala Tang. Among the ingredients, Ryuji looked back on the Malony and gyoza as especially delicious. Ryuji wraps up by suggesting that people who like spicy food make the Ultimate Mala Tang, and those who want to tone down the heat make the Soy Milk Mala Tang.