Ryuji's "Popeye Egg": Stir-Fried Spinach, No Boiling, Turned into a Main Dish with Pork Scraps and Eggs

The process is simple, but there are a few key points: how to remove the oxalic acid, how to drain off the water, and stir-frying the spinach in two stages. In the video, Ryuji explains each one while cooking, and finally tastes the dish with the staff.

At the start, Ryuji explains why they chose this recipe. The channel updates daily, so they want to put out recipes that help people day to day. Lately there has been a lot of special-feature content, but steady, everyday recipes like this one are important, Ryuji says.

They return to the same topic partway through cooking. Admitting, "I don't think spinach videos get many views," Ryuji says ordinary cooking still matters. They can't keep making only dishes aimed at the numbers. It benefits the world to have a cooking expert who still publishes recipes that are basic but delicious, and Ryuji takes the position that they are the only one who will do it.

Ryuji also shared thoughts on effort. In home cooking, something that tastes good without much effort is "obviously more impressive" than something that tastes good because of a lot of effort, Ryuji says. People who enjoy cooking probably don't mind any amount of effort. But there are days when you're tired and can't enjoy cooking. That's when low-effort dishes become important. Ryuji added, however, that even this recipe involves the extra step of cutting the spinach and soaking it in water. With that said, they decided to go "best of simple" this time, emphasizing the importance of making it delicious with simple seasonings.

Near the end, Ryuji also says that they wouldn't want people to start thinking "Ryuji's recipes are all difficult" lately, so doing a practical, highly nutritious recipe is a return to their roots.

The ingredients are very simple: 1 bag of spinach (200g), 120g pork scraps, 2 eggs, 10g garlic, salt, chicken bouillon, and rice bran oil.

The dish is delicious even without garlic. But spinach and pork alone feel a little lacking, so Ryuji recommends adding it. If you don't have any, garlic powder works too. About 2 eggs is good, but if you want more, 3 is fine, Ryuji says.

The first step is cutting the spinach. Ryuji first explains that spinach contains oxalic acid, and how you remove it matters. If too much oxalic acid builds up in the body it can cause stones, so if you can remove it, it's better to do so. On the other hand, Ryuji also says that stir-frying it as is is fine as long as you don't eat too much, and there's no need to be that afraid. Removing oxalic acid is positioned as something for people who are concerned: it simply "reduces the risk."

Ryuji's method is to cut first and then wash, which they say gets it cleaner. Dirt tends to collect at the root end, but Ryuji asks people not to throw it away and to eat it. This part is highly nutritious, yet some people who eat spinach for their health throw it out, which Ryuji calls a waste. The stems can be cut fairly large.

This time the spinach is stir-fried rather than boiled. According to Ryuji, spinach is delicious stir-fried too. But stir-frying alone won't fully remove the oxalic acid, so it needs to be soaked in water.

Plain tap water is fine, with nothing added. Rubbing the spinach around loosens the dirt, so it also saves the trouble of washing, Ryuji says. Leave it for 10 to 15 minutes, and the oxalic acid leaches out from the cut ends. Ryuji's remark about the effect on texture is somewhat unclear in the subtitles, but they explain that the soak also removes dirt, so it kills two birds with one stone. After about 10 minutes, the water turns quite green, Ryuji says.

After 15 minutes, the water had indeed turned green, and there was sand at the bottom of the bowl. Here Ryuji pointed out how to take the spinach out. If you pour the whole bowl, water and all, into a colander, you end up pouring the dirt that settled at the bottom back over the spinach. So lift the spinach out by hand instead. Give the stems a light rinse.

Next, drain the water thoroughly. Too much water makes it soggy when stir-fried. Covering it with another bowl and shaking removes the water well, and doing this much makes it "spinach suited for stir-frying," Ryuji says. It's a bit of a hassle, but boiling is just as much of a hassle, so bear with it, Ryuji says. When a staff member asked, "What if you don't have a big bowl?" Ryuji answered that a smaller bowl of about the same size will hold it, so it's no problem.

Cut the garlic in half and, this time, slice it. Don't remove the core. The garlic used in the video was on the larger side, and Ryuji said it was probably Japanese-grown.

The pork scraps can be used as is, but if possible, tear them by hand to even out the size, Ryuji says. This method also suits people who don't want to put meat on their cutting board. When a staff member asked whether to coat it in potato starch or something similar, Ryuji replied, "It's just a quick stir-fry, so coating it is too much trouble." This is in line with the plan to keep things simple this time.

Use a modest amount of oil: about 2 teaspoons of rice bran oil. Ryuji wants to keep it as healthy as possible and says they've started adjusting the amount of oil lately. Vegetable oil works too, but rice bran oil tastes better, Ryuji says.

If using garlic powder, add about 8 shakes when you stir-fry the meat in the next step. It's a little different from fresh garlic, but still plenty delicious, Ryuji says. If using fresh garlic, the oil alone won't pick up much aroma, so roast the garlic until it takes on color. Use medium heat; too high and the garlic will burn. If it looks like it's going to burn, you can take it out partway through.

Once the garlic is golden and fragrant, add the pork scraps seasoned with a pinch of salt and stir-fry them together. Ryuji says, "Pork scraps fried with garlic are delicious," adding that chicken is also good.

If you don't have pork, you can make it with bacon. Since bacon is salty, though, you should adjust the amount of chicken bouillon, Ryuji says. Dishes like this tend to be fried in butter, but since eggs go in too, butter would make it too heavy, in Ryuji's judgment. So this time they use regular oil and add the aroma of garlic.

Once the pork is browned, add the spinach. Ideally the stems would go in first, but that's a hassle, so without separating them, add about half first. With a single frying pan, putting everything in at once makes it harder to cook through.

Doing it in two stages also creates a difference in texture. The first batch wilts, while the second stays crisp. Ryuji says this "contrast in flavor and texture" is really nice. On top of that, adding everything at once turns it into something like a stew. Stir-frying in batches lets the moisture evaporate more easily, so it doesn't get soggy.

A staff member asked, "Spinach can be eaten raw anyway, right?" Ryuji answered that as long as the oxalic acid is removed, it's perfectly fine raw. In fact, the spinach cooked through quickly and kept a nice color.

When the first batch has wilted, add the rest of the spinach. After adding the second batch, turn up the heat and add 1 teaspoon of chicken bouillon. That's it for seasoning: "That's all," Ryuji says.

Next, make a space in the middle and crack in the eggs. At this point, the stems of the second batch of spinach are still firm and crunchy. Cooking them together with the eggs really brings out the spinach's umami, Ryuji explains. The eggs cook quickly.

That's almost the entire process, and it's "super easy." Even so, there are several key points, and if you master them, you'll get better at things like sautéed spinach too, Ryuji says.

When a staff member said, "If you used butter and bacon, it'd really be a sauté," Ryuji replied that that's fine too, and such recipes exist. But this time, they said, they just wanted to make "really nice spinach."

Cook the eggs however you like. It's good for breakfast with bread, or you can put it on rice and drizzle it with soy sauce for a rice bowl. Ryuji rates it as "a really useful recipe."

During cooking, a staff member brought up a previous video. In an episode where they visited an iekei ramen shop, a staff member had added a large amount of the "raw spinach" topping. Afterward, comments came in expressing concern about oxalic acid.

Ryuji explained it this way. The "raw spinach" at iekei ramen shops isn't served raw. It means fresh spinach, not frozen, that has been boiled. Boiling removes a good amount of the oxalic acid. If you see "raw spinach" listed as a topping, remember that it's fresh spinach that has been properly boiled, Ryuji said.

Ryuji's preference is to break the yolks and coat the spinach with them. If you like your eggs firmer, cook them a bit longer until soft-set.

Finally, grind black pepper over it using a one-handed mill sold at the Buzz Recipe shop. Don't put pepper on the eggs. It looks nicer when the eggs are visible, Ryuji says. Whether to finish with salt or soy sauce is up to you. If serving it as a snack with drinks, Ryuji likes to add a little salt.

Tasting it, Ryuji said, "The eggs are perfectly soft-cooked," and praised eating it with the yolk mixed in. Ryuji also pointed to the contrast between the soft, wilted spinach and the stems that kept their bite. Ryuji was surprised, saying, "Was it this good when I made it before?" and urged both staff members to try it.

The staff's reactions were "Simple but delicious" and "No bitterness at all." There were also comments like "This and rice is all you need" and "It'd work as a rice bowl too." Ryuji's analysis was that the garlic might be providing a really good accent.

Variation ideas came up as well. Tuna or bacon would probably be good, and pretty much any animal-based umami would likely work. On the nutrition side, Ryuji says the oxalic acid has been properly removed and there are eggs in it, so it works as a meal on its own.

Ryuji also sees the simplicity of seasoning with only chicken bouillon as bringing out the flavor of the spinach. It seems like a recipe anyone could think of, but in terms of taste it's quite excellent, Ryuji says. The staff responded, "It's the kind of thing that turns out to be a huge hit when you try it" and "Even though it looks plain at first glance." Ryuji reflected, "I'm glad I didn't fall back on butter," saying butter would probably have made it ordinary, a "flavor you've had before."

It works as a side for rice or as breakfast, and it's highly nutritious on its own. The video ends with Ryuji encouraging viewers to try this easy, simple Popeye Egg.