White Shirataki Noodles Multipack

I am a Japanese living in London. This applies not only to these shirataki noodles but to konjac products in general: Newly opened packages often have a noticeable smell. This does not mean the product has gone bad. The odor comes from the alkaline coagulant (calcium hydroxide) used in the production process, as well as trimethylamine, a compound that smells similar to fish. Rinsing the product in hot water for about one minute will remove most of the odor. I mainly use shirataki to help reduce the calorie content of my meals. I’ve also included a recipe for creamy shirataki pasta by my favorite Japanese recipe creator, Ryuji. It's very easy to make and absolutely delicious, so I highly recommend giving it a try! (his YouTube channel also shows you how to make the recipes step by step) <<Creamy Shirataki Pasta>> Shirataki noodles Butter: 8 g Bacon: 30 g (Japanese bacon is quite different from the bacon available here in the UK, so I used half the amount of pancetta from Tesco instead.) Mushrooms: 50 g Consommé powder: 1½ tsp (I used the half of the Knorr beef stock pod instead) Soy milk: 200 ml (use soy milk instead of regular milk, as it thickens nicely when simmered) Cream cheese: 36 g Salt and pepper: to taste Black pepper: to taste 1. Rinse the shirataki noodles in hot water and drain thoroughly. 2. Heat a frying pan over medium heat, add 8 g of butter, and sauté torn pieces of bacon and mushrooms. 3. Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the shirataki noodles and consommé powder. Continue sautéing. 4. When the noodles have absorbed the flavor of the stock, add 200 ml of soy milk and 36 g of cream cheese. Simmer while stirring until the cheese is fully melted and combined. 5. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add black pepper. Continue simmering until the sauce thickens (let it reduce well). Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with black pepper and dried parsley.

Great value, great gluten-free diet-friendly alternative to egg noodles. Low-fat and low-carb. Quick to cook. I do agree with the reviews that complain about the smell - it is horrible. When you first take them out of their packaging and drain and wash them, it smells nasty. Once you add a sauce or put them in broth, it tastes fine.

Not sure why but this stuff smells of shrimps... quite smelly. Otherwise it's fine.

I've been on a LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) diet for 3 years now and have lost a ton of weight on it, which has stayed off (when I behave). The health benefits have been phenomenal. However, every now and again I have a hankering for some delicious noodles/pasta etc., which I fortunately manage to avoid most of the time. A web-forum (dietdoctor.com) recommended that I try shirataki noodles, as they are virtually carb free and you could eat as much as you wanted etc. The Yutaka deal looked pretty good and the general reviews were good, so we ordered the 12 pack to experiment a bit. Parcel arrived well packed (each sachet of noodles is in it's own bag of liquid) and there were no leaks. I had read about the "bad smell" of fresh shirataki noodles so was prepared. To be honest, the smell was not as bad as I was expecting. If you've ever dealt with raw seafood etc., shirataki noodles are not going to be off-putting, but some people might not like it. Anyway, followed the advice and rinsed them really well in fresh water for 3-4 minutes then strained them in a colander. For my first attempt just to get a sense of the flavour/texture, I stir fried them in a non-stick wok on medium heat with no ingredients for about 5 minutes to drive off some of the water (as is recommended). After this, I stirred in about 30 grammes of butter (high fat diet, remember?) and some delicious grindy seasoning I get from Makro with salt, black pepper, chilli & garlic flakes. I stir fried the noodles on a gentle heat for about 4 minutes in this butter and seasoning and then served them up in a heated bowl. Shirataki noodles don't carry much flavour themselves but seem to pick up most of their flavour from what they are cooked in. I found the butter seasoning mix with the noodles to be very tasty. A little of the cooked noodle flavour came through and it was pleasant, nothing like the earlier smell. The biggest thing for me was that I was getting that lovely noodle "bite" feel with the butter, garlic, salt and chilli. But zero carbs. My mind couldn't quite put the two together properly so I still felt some "carb guilt"!!! The noodles are very filling. If you want to get a lot of fat in you with a nice "filler" that has zero nutritional value, I don't think you can do much better than shirataki noodles at <0.1g of carbs per 100g of noodles! My next experiment was a quick-and-dirty vietnamese style pho soup, made with a beef stock tub. Once again, the shirataki noodles tasted great cooked in the pho (faux?) soup and the texture of the noodles was just right for me. However, I'll spend some more time on the stock next time and do it better with a proper recipe as I overspiced the broth and my wife DID NOT like that (yeah, I don't think Pho is meant to have 1/8th of a bottle of tabasco in it....!) I am pretty sure that these would double up reasonably well as a substitute for spaghetti in a bolognaise, with a little bit of imagination. We have used sliced mushrooms or julienne courgettes gently fried in butter as a pasta substitute in the past, and I am sure the shirataki noodles will be just as good, if not more "pasta like". One of the key ingredients to a good pasta sauce is good fatty beef mince and bacon lardons.... we usually get 70/30 beef (30% fat) from our local butcher who knows us well enough now - "those skinny people who eat lots of fat". The fat, seasoning and tomato/garlic sauce coating the noodles should be more than enough to flavour them nicely. Anyway - recommended. We will be buying these again.

Really wanted to like these.. trying to lose some weight but I love pasta too much. I've given these a good go and even though I'll finish the box, I won't buy again. They have a unique taste but it's nothing like noodles and I say that as someone who loves noodles and know how it's supposed to taste. These taste like diet food, if you know what I mean. I think I'd rather focus on eating less and not so much on eating bland tasteless foods. They have fishy-ish smell and are rubbery. I'm going to experiment with other recipes and hope for the best.

As others have said, these are a good, filling, low-calorie food which I suspect are highly versatile. There are a few things you should know before ordering: Yes, the package and the water inside do smell a little fishy. As a lifelong vegetarian, fish is something I've always hated the smell of, however, the fishy smell from these noodles is not the horrible pungent smell that you get from slightly old fish, it's definitely on the more pleasant end of the spectrum. In any case, if you drain and rinse the noodles in a sieve for a minute most of the fishy taste/smell will go. The noodles themselves (once rinsed) have quite a neutral taste and the texture when cooked (instructions below) is quite similar to those "straight to wok" noodles you buy from the supermarket (these also come in a pouch with liquid). I would say that the noodles do have a slightly fishy taste to them but it's by no means unpleasant and if you're going to be cooking them in a flavourful sauce or stock then you can probably mask this quite effectively. My recipe: 1 Pack Yutaka Shirataki noodles 10g of JustIngredients Essential Mixed Vegetables 1/2 teaspoon of MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (Yes I know some people have an aversion to MSG, but it's a fantastic ingredient to add some umami "oomph" - you can leave it out if you like. 5g of Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon A sprinkle of dried chilli flakes. Drain and rinse noodles, add all ingredients into a small saucepan and top up with ~200ml of boiling water. I didn't measure precisely, just used enough to cover most of the noodles. If you're a fan of more of a "noodle soup" with lots of broth then you could of course add more water, or cook as per my instructions and then add more boiling water back in at the end. Simmer for around 5 minutes. Liquid should have reduced somewhat. Heat a small, non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat. Pour noodles into frying pan (with no oil) and fry until water has reduced to your desired consistency. That's it! The end result is quite similar to a Nong Shim Shin Instant Noodle Cup , but only has about 50kcals total (~30kcal of which is from the dried veg). All of this is at a total cost of about £1.35 too so not that much more than the instant noodle cups but loads healthier because of the low-cal noodles. You could of course experiment with flavourings, add more spices etc. but I wanted to keep it really simple initially so that I can quickly and easily prepare them to take to work with me for lunch.

they say its healthy should be edible as well ... tried different ways not good at all waste of money

I tried the emma basic ones and liked those so im also trying these as they are slightly cheaper on offer at the moment (£9.50) They just arrived and hour ago and I've already eaten some. They have a crunchy but somehow also bouncy texture which may take some getting used to but after experiencing before becomes tasty. The emma basic ones didn't have the fabled fish smell that I've seen mentioned so much but these yutaka ones do- don't let it put you off just rinse a couple times with cold water and you cannot taste the smell once they have been cooked. They don't have to be cooked for cold dishes but they will always have to be rinsed. A decent size portion and slightly thicker diameter noodles than the Emma basic ones. 17 calories per portion, can't complain about that.