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ventaContinuing the relentless ongoing series of lunch-based posts...
I've been investigating shirataki noodles, one of the subgroups of what Bento Lady calls "the almost zero-calorie, weird wobbly food from Japan".
Now, the zero-calorie bit doesn't particularly appeal to me. I'm not really attempting to lose weight, and I have a bit of a superstitious dread of what I think of as subtitute foods - things which try to be like other things but with fewer calories/cabrohydrates etc. They always remind me of MEALS™, invented by Famine in Good Omens.
However, noodles containing no calories have got to be made of something, and in this case it's a particular kind of yam. The net result is that the noodles are made pretty much entirely of soluble fibre. Without wishing to subject you to an indelicate discourse about my digestive processes, I find that I have to eat a surprisingly high-fibre diet to remain functional. An easy way of shoehorning a bit of extra fibre into a lunchbox seemed like a pretty good idea.
In their natural state, shirataki noodles are indeed a bit weird and wobbly, they're also a scary semi-translucent white. Fortunately, thrown into a hot work with lots of soy sauce and vegetables, they soak up stuff and turn a much more food-like sort of colour. In and of themselves, they're not hugely exciting but mixed in with other things I think they work pretty well and add a bit of texture.
I had my noodles and vegetables with little burgers and some blanched spinach:
You'll notice my lunchbox is demonstrating its joie de vivre with a jaunty angle. You'll probably also notice that I really need to get the hang of photographing food better.
This is actually a bento from last week I didn't get around to posting. As suspected, with a lunch that packs better my teeny-tiny new bento box is indeed big enough.
I've been investigating shirataki noodles, one of the subgroups of what Bento Lady calls "the almost zero-calorie, weird wobbly food from Japan".
Now, the zero-calorie bit doesn't particularly appeal to me. I'm not really attempting to lose weight, and I have a bit of a superstitious dread of what I think of as subtitute foods - things which try to be like other things but with fewer calories/cabrohydrates etc. They always remind me of MEALS™, invented by Famine in Good Omens.
However, noodles containing no calories have got to be made of something, and in this case it's a particular kind of yam. The net result is that the noodles are made pretty much entirely of soluble fibre. Without wishing to subject you to an indelicate discourse about my digestive processes, I find that I have to eat a surprisingly high-fibre diet to remain functional. An easy way of shoehorning a bit of extra fibre into a lunchbox seemed like a pretty good idea.
In their natural state, shirataki noodles are indeed a bit weird and wobbly, they're also a scary semi-translucent white. Fortunately, thrown into a hot work with lots of soy sauce and vegetables, they soak up stuff and turn a much more food-like sort of colour. In and of themselves, they're not hugely exciting but mixed in with other things I think they work pretty well and add a bit of texture.
I had my noodles and vegetables with little burgers and some blanched spinach:
You'll notice my lunchbox is demonstrating its joie de vivre with a jaunty angle. You'll probably also notice that I really need to get the hang of photographing food better.
This is actually a bento from last week I didn't get around to posting. As suspected, with a lunch that packs better my teeny-tiny new bento box is indeed big enough.
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no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 10:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 10:57 am (UTC)(Though if you do take on cooking it, definitely read the post I linked to as it's essential to put in an unexpected boiling step before frying. I've never yet seen shirataki/konnyaku for sale that had a word of English on the packet, so the helpful advice the packaging no doubt contains on cooking is rather lost on me!)
no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 10:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 11:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 01:28 pm (UTC)I can't read any of the writing on the packet I have, though, as it's in Japanese :)
I see what you mean, though - I don't really understand how shirataki or konnyaku are made, or what sort of processing is done to yams to get to the end result.
As a fibre source they do seem effective, though. Apparently their nickname in Japanese translates as "a broom for the stomach"!
no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 01:31 pm (UTC)Will edit post accordingly, thanks for picking it up!
no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 05:56 pm (UTC)Being new to
On photographing food
Date: 2011-11-08 06:59 pm (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_photography
They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-08 07:01 pm (UTC)If it still disagrees with me (or during the window when it decided gluten was OK for a while) then aloe vera capsules or peppermint oil capsules, sometimes both.
Psyllium husks are ace for many. Though I've heard it recommended that you don't make up the drink version, just sprinkle them in certain foods (no I don't know which).
Re: They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-08 09:08 pm (UTC)It's different for everybody, isn't it? Digestive stuff I mean. A lot of trial and error, or dare I say, 'suck it and see'?
Re: On photographing food
Date: 2011-11-09 10:22 am (UTC)But there are also food bloggers who are taking pictures of real food that they are intending to eat, and making the pics look good.
Mind you, if I could get mine in focus it'd be a good start! Probably I should start using a proper camera instead of a phone!
Re: They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-09 10:26 am (UTC)They're sounding considerably less appealing now!
Though probably still worth a little investigating if they do the job. Just something firmly in the medicinal category rather than the gourmet!
It's different for everybody, isn't it?
C'mon, haven't you learnt the Rules of the Internet? You're supposed to insist that your experiences are completely typical for everyone, that your choices are the only way, and that anyone who disagrees is either Doing It Wrong or stupid (or both).
Displaying dangerously balanced and considered opinions risks getting your commenting rights revoked!
:)
Re: They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-09 10:51 am (UTC)Sucking it is rather less of a problem than swallowing it, but yes.
Re: They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-09 11:27 am (UTC)Having just read Wikpiedia's section on potential adverse effects of taking the things with too little water (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psyllium_seed_husks#Adverse_reactions_and_warnings), I can see why you'd want to be quite clear which foods it was ok to sprinkle them on!
Re: They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-09 11:30 am (UTC)Re: They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-09 12:50 pm (UTC)Seriously, they're a lifesaver for me. I get terrible insomnia when my digestion isn't working right, and that leads to a sincere desire for suicide. It's over soon, when I've used the toilet and had some sleep, but until those things happen I really do want the Grim Reaper to come a'knocking.
So I take psyllium every day (and since I'm now on this subject, occasionally even that isn't enough. Then I also take lactulose. I call psyllium 'sawdust' but I call lactulose 'the Elixir of Life'. Nuff said.) I've forgotten where you are. I'm in Britain and here, the cheapest source of psyllium I've found is the Suma brand, available in health food shops. It's also available as a product called Regucol from Horrid and Barren, oops sorry, Holland and Barrett. Regucol has more ingredients and a bigger price tag than plain psyllium husks but I find them interchangeable.
Anyway yes, this is definitely a medicine not a food. Well worth it, though. I don't recall whether you have a disability requiring you to take meds. I do - I self-inject - so I've had to get over my prejudice against taking prescribed meds. And neither psyllium nor lactulose requires a prescription.
Re: They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-09 01:03 pm (UTC)That's more like it :)
For general info: I'm in the UK (London, specifically) and am lucky enough not to have any serious medical conditions or disabilities. I have the usual selection of "this bit doesn't quite work right" that everyone has by their mid-30s, but really nothing of any great import.
My digestion is rather inclined towards sluggish, but normally nothing that a high-fibre diet can't sort out. Something like shirataki noodles is useful for those days when I feel a bit of extra fibre is in order. I was curious about the idea of something that's specifically intended as a fibre-supplement (such as psyllium) for times like this weekend when I was away from home and eating lots of meals "out". It's surpising how hard it is to get fibrous food in a restaurant.
However, I do now feel slightly frivolous wanting supplements to allow me to have such a hedonistic lifestyle when other people are obviously suffering much more from digestive trauma than I am!
(I've never suffered insomnia from digestive problems, I don't think - though interestingly my digestion deteriorates rapidly if I don't get enough sleep. So I'm more likely to get the problems from the insomnia. I can imagine that being unable to sleep like that must be quite grim, though :( )
Re: They were occasionally OK for me
Date: 2011-11-09 09:45 pm (UTC)I don't think you're being frivolous. Anyway, what's wrong with a little frivolity? ;-)