Warning! Gelatinous mass alert
Konnyaku is made from the flour of a small variety of a palm that is sometimes refered to as Devil’s tongue. Let’s get this straight: gross, wiggly, giggly gelatinous mass made from something called Devil’s tongue…yea, that actually makes sense. The flour from the plant is transformed with limewater into a super viscous gelatinous mass. This starch reportedly has very few calories and is a great source of fiber. It generally comes in three very unappealing and unappetizing colors: milky white, medium grey with black flecks, and puke green with black flecks. The most common being the medium gray with black flecks. Regardless of the color, it has little taste, and too much of the wrong kind of texture. The black flecks are hijiki, which is basically a kind of seaweed that grows on rocky coasts in this part of Asia. It purportedly has numerous health benefits. Depending on the dish you are making, fresh konnyaku can be cut into small cubes or into noodle-like strings.
My first encounter with konnyaku came shortly after we arrived when friends taught us to make niku jyaga, a common Japanese dish that uses fish stock as a broth in which potatoes, carrots and konnyaku are boiled. Konnyaku also shows up as appetizers now and again. The most common version is one in which the large wiggly mass is cut into square worm-like lengths and then covered in miso sauce – a tannish-brown fish paste. I find this dish to be nearly inedible. My wife, who has serious food texture aversions won’t touch the stuff, not matter what it is hidden under or in.
Last Sunday we went to our favorite Tonkatsu -breaded and deep-fried pork cutlets – restaurant. The owners, and wonderfully charming older couple, announced that they had some freshly made konnyaku with freshly picked hijiki and wanted to know if we wanted to try some. I of course said yes. As she brought the small dish with five cubes to the table she announced that it would be ok if we didn’t like it and didn’t eat it. This was a very sweet gesture. It turns out that they had found a way to make it taste good. They had cut the konnyaku into small squares, and then sautéed them in some soy, pepper and sake. The sautéing had firmed up the outside making it less offensive to the touch of the tongue. The bite of the pepper and zing of the sake made the whole thing quite delicious. I was unable to convince Pam to join me, but I did get a very big and very approving smile from the owners.