A simple and quick 15 minute black garlic shirataki noodles recipe that's packed with sweet garlicky smoky flavours with oodles of health benefits in there somewhere. But honestly, it's all about the taste isn't it? 🙂
It's always a fun time whenever we visit my mom and dad in Toronto. I always come home with new goodies and ingredients to play with since they themselves also love to eat and try new things. It's almost guaranteed that whenever I come home, I come home with a big haul of food that can feed me for weeks. It must be a parental thing to make sure their kids are fattened up and well-fed. I'm not complaining!
During my most recent visit, my mom packed me some pretty neat stuff which I'm excited to share with you: Black garlic and Shirataki noodles.
I put together a very simple recipe to showcase the sweet umami flavours from the black garlic along with the neat texture of the shirataki noodles. You will see it's not very intimidating and a lot of these ingredients can be very versatile as well.
INGREDIENTS
For this shirataki noodle recipe, most of these ingredients can be found at your local Asian supermarket. However, the black garlic might take a bit more hunting. If you cannot find it, it's probably easiest to nab it online.
I used King Oyster Mushrooms in this recipe because it has a meatier flesh and a mild flavour, but you can substitute any type of mushrooms with it. You can even add a meat or veg protein and this recipe will work out just as good.
Dashi Powder is a powdered form stock base for dashi stock. It is most commonly used to make dashi stock for miso soups in a pinch but it can also be used in smaller quantities to enhance a dish by adding smoky, savory flavours to your meals. Since it is in granule form, you will need to add it to a liquid to break it down before using. You can omit this for this recipe, but you will lose the smoky flavours from the dish.
You won't believe this but Shirataki Noodles are actually made from yams! Yeah, yams! They have become quite popular recently since they are great for anyone on special gluten-free or vegans diets and they are low in calories and carbs since it is made up of an indigestible dietary fiber which you essentially don't digest! They have an interesting bouncy, crunchy texture that is fun to eat. They are usually located in the refrigerated section of the supermarket in little packages suspended in water.
They come tied up in cute little knots, which you can untie to get the long stringy noodles, or leave as-is to have them as little bundled noodles. I personally prefer them tied up because you get a lot more texture and crunch from them that way and the little bundles are great and absorbing all the sauces.
Note: If you are not use to it, the water may smell a bit fishy. Rinse out the noodles in cold water, and you're good to go. No more fishy smell 🙂
Black garlic. It looks weird, almost makes you wonder if they are rotted or molded right? Black garlic is essentially made by fermenting regular garlic in a low heat and humid environment for a long period of time. You can actually make this yourself in a slow cooker or rice cooker but be prepared to keep the cooker on for a week. It takes at least 200 hours to produce these nuggets.
If you have never had black garlic before, the best way I can describe this is sweet! The garlicky spicy kick is almost non-existent and is replaced with a very sweet caramelized mild garlic flavour. Lots of umami-ness, and it has a great soft and sticky texture.
Black garlic is a very versatile ingredient and can be used in anything and everything: sauces, spreads, dressings, as a garlic replacement etc. Apparently it has loads of health benefits as well, such as cancer protections, controlling cholesterol, protection from infections and very high in antioxidants. We just like it for the flavour, the health benefits are a bonus!
THROWING IT TOGETHER
This is a very simple recipe that can be thrown together in 10 minutes, and packs a lot of flavour.
- Chop or slice up your mushrooms and black garlic and put aside
- Rinse out the Shirataki noodles and drain and put aside
- In a small bowl, combine the: light soy sauce, dashi powder, water and sugar and put aside
- Heat up frying pan and toss them in the same order of prep! 1-2-3!
Enjoy!
Black Garlic Shirataki Noodles with King Oyster Mushrooms
INGREDIENTS
- 1 package of shirataki noodles
- 6-8 cloves black garlic
- 4 king oyster mushrooms (sliced)
- ½ tablespoon butter
Sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dashi powder
- 2 teaspoon water
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
Preparation
- Slice the king oyster mushrooms and black garlic and put aside
- Remove shirataki noodles from package and rinse thoroughly with cold running water
- Combine all the ingredients under the ingredient list 'Sauce' into one bowl and put aside
Putting it Together
- Heat up frying pan to medium heat with a bit of oil or butter
- When the frying pan is up to temperature, add in the mushrooms and saute for 3-5 minutes
- Turn down the heat to medium-low before we add in the garlic.
- Add in the black garlic once the mushroom is soft and cook for 2 minutes. The black garlic is very soft, so you can mash it up into the mushrooms to make it a paste for a more evenly distributed flavour.
- Add in the sauce and the noodles and fry it for another 3-5 minutes.
- Enjoy! 🙂
NUTRITION
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Amy says
Hi, can I use liquid smoke instead of dried dashi? I'm trying to keep it plant based. What would you substitute dashi powder with to keep it smokey?
Thanks in advance!
Joyce says
Hi Amy,
Hm I personally haven't tried substituting dried dashi, but if I was to I would probably replace it with 1/4 teaspoon of miso with less than 1 drop of liquid smoke (if that's possible.) I know liquid smokey is quite strong, a lot stronger than the smokiness that dashi powder provides which is why I would try to add less than a drop and do a taste test first, if it't not enough smokiness then add a smidgen more. Dashi powder is a source of salt and umami for this recipe which is why I suggested substituting it with 1/4 teaspoon of miso as well. 🙂
Hope that helps!
Amy says
Joyce, thanks for your reply. Do you mean 1/4 tsp of miso paste? Like Dashi Miso, White Miso or Red Miso?
Joyce says
For this one I'd go with white miso so it doesn't overpower the delicate flavour of the black garlic and yup 1/4 teaspoon of the miso paste 🙂 But I'd definitely try to do a taste test, since the dashi powder is meant to be there for saltiness as well. If the sauce doesn't taste salty or flavourful enough, add 1/4 teaspoon more miso paste. 🙂 Hope this helps!
twobacas says
Hi Joyce;
What do you think this dish would taste like without black garlic.
If you mashed regular garlic with the other seasonings?
Also add a little balsamic? Black garlic is really difficult to find
other then going on-line.
Joyce says
Hi twobacas,
Without black garlic it would just lose the sweet flavour. You can substitute balsamic but reduce it a bit in a pot over low heat first to remove the sourness of the balsamic so that it becomes a thick syrup and it would be a very similiar taste to black garlic 🙂 Black garlic also doesn't have a strong garlic flavour so you don't need to increase the amount of garlic if you don't plan to use it.
Jamie | A Sassy Spoon says
At first glance, this looked really complicated but then I read through the post/directions and it sounds EASY! I bet it's just as delicious too! Yum! Thanks for sharing, Joyce!
Joyce says
Thanks Jamie! 😀
Riva says
Lovely pictures, it's making me hungry just looking at the pictures! This recipe is so unique and intriguing, I too have never used some of these ingredients, and would love to experiment with them!
Joyce says
Black garlic is a bit tougher to find, but you can pick them up online. I swear they go with everything. They just taste sweet! Like caramelized sweet with a mild garlic flavour. They can be made into sauces or dressings, put into stews or soups. Versatile! 🙂