Forum

We started low-carb eating about 3 weeks ago and I have been investigating what's available online and wanted to share some thoughts and hopefully get other ideas from others who are familiar with low carb eating.  I think I've gotten some handle on wheat flour substitution with things like almond, walnut, coconut etc flours.  For rice, I now make 70% rice with mannanhikari (konjac rice) which cuts the carb by 33%.  I really like the texure of this combo and the taste is same as before.  At some point, I like to go 50% and see how that work out.

In Japan, we use konjac which is known as konnyaku and shirataki as part of our diet for a long time so it's been easier for Japanese to adapt to this style of eating.  We also like what is basically agar agar which is known as kanten and this is used extensively in Japan. 

I seem to be having problems finding low-carb pasta and noodle products in the US.  Does anyone know of such products besides miracle noodle (basically made from konjac and sometimes mixed soy milk) or shirataki noodle?  These must be refrigerated and for me space is the problem and I prefer not to keep these items in the refrigerator.  I can buy dried bundles of shirataki noodles from Japan via Amazon and these are very handy to use.  I now find that low carb pasta, udon, soba, and ramen products are available online via Amazon Japan.  They seem to use combo konjac, kanten exclusively or sometimes mixed with soba and wheat flours.  I just ordered these and hoping the taste and texture is satisfactory.  

There seems to be many new low-carb cookbooks being published in Japan and just received my first 4 and I love them.   The recipes are very up-to-date and modern.  The low-carb English language cookbooks I have purchased seems a bit more dated.  

It seems like low-carb goal is around 50-75 g per day in the US but the goal in Japan is a little more generous at 120-150G per day.  

I'm not low carb, but I have a couple of cookbooks that aren't on your shelf that you might find useful

Cooking with Coconut Flour
https://www.eatyourbooks...ing-with-coconut-flour-a
No photos. 160 pages. Mostly bakery kind of items, but a number of savory recipes too,
Not yet indexed.

Paleo Cooking with your Instant Pot
https://www.eatyourbooks...ooking-with-your-instant
Photos for all 80 recipes. A good mix of recipes, mains, soups, salads, sides, desserts, even a couple of low carb breads made in the IP. 
This one is indexing now.

" For rice, I now make 70% rice with mannanhikari (konjac rice) which cuts the carb by 33%.  I really like the texure of this combo and the taste is same as before."

@Rinshin  I'd like to give this a go. Do you cook both rices together in your rice cooker? If so, what amount of rice and water that you use?  Thank you!

Oh wow, thank you so much! Looking forward to trying this out!!

Will do! I just placed my order yesterday. 

So far, we tried 33% and it was a bit mushy, but good. I usually make my rice with less water than the rice cooker indicates, so I will adjust accordingly.
Yesterday, I tried my first batch of 50% with about 400 ml of water and that seemed to work out well.  Natto gohan. :) 

Would you mind helping me with the nutrional analysis? If I am reading the bag correctly, 100g of the manan hikari has:

251 calories
.2 g protein
.4 g fat
87.7 g carb (60.2 glucide, 27.5 food fiber)
.4 g sodium chloride

BTW, I tried the japchae with shirataki noodles (nomnomprincess.com) after seeing your notes and they were a hit.

For 100 g of rice only 168 kcal, 2.5 protein, 36.8 g carb, .3 fat

mannanhikari addition of 33% cut with rice 100g: 110 kcal, 1.4 protein, 24.4g carb, .3 fat

25% cut rice 100g: 126 kcal, 1.8 protein, 27.6g carb, .3 fat

They do not show 50% cut but looking at the carb number, it should be 18.2g carb.

When working with shirataki noodle I find that rinsing shirataki well with boiling water, drain well, and microwave full power 2-3 min, stir, and microwave again 2-3 min. Smell gone, dries out and texture is more firm like ramen noodle. I have been making ramen and yakisoba using this method with shirataki for last 2 months and although not 100% like real noodle, it comes 80% there for satisfaction.

I also find that when adding mannanhikari the water amount needs to be adjusted based on type of rice and cooker used to personal preference. I doubt I will ever go back to 100% rice after this even when we are no longer doing low carb. I like to try making risotto too. Most likely need to be experimented.

And doria. I want to see if I can create doria like the one sold at seven eleven in Japan Lots of garlic flavor with creamy tomato based sauce, plump shrimp and mozz cheese and parmesan gratin.

http://www.sej.co.jp/i/products/gratin/

Thank you! I usually boil the shirataki, but I will try your tip with the microwave.

I have never had doria before, sounds delicious!

Just tried your shirataki tip for shirataki yaki soba. It worked out great and really liked the texture for this treatment. Thank you!

The Great Low Carb Bread Company has several very low carb pastas. We like them a lot, and we find the portions are smaller than they suggest, which brings down the cost as well. The elbows make a great mac and cheese, by the way.