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So hungry you could devour an entire onsen resort’s worth of food? Time to make some noodles—with a twist!

yukisheadshot4Yuki, the proprietor of “supercute food” blog Yukitchen and the creator of myriad dishes that are as healthy as they are fun to look at, has kindly agreed to share one of her recipes with us here at RocketNews24! This week, the cook, model, web designer and travel writer (this girl makes us feel super lazy sometimes!) whips up a batch of delicious yakisoba with a twist—sitting atop the noodles is none other than Spirited Away’s No-Face, or Kaonashi in Japanese, in his angry, mutated form! And of course, he’s completely edible too, since he’s made of rice and nori!

So grab your aprons and let’s get cooking. Take it away, Yuki!

INGREDIENTS

For Yakisoba
  • ・3~4 shiitake mushrooms
  • ・2 garlic cloves
  • ・½ onion
  • ・½ carrot
  • ・½ cup brocolis
  • ・4 cabbage leaves
  • ・A pinch salt
  • ・1 tsp ground black pepper
  • ・8 tbsp.yakisoba sauce
  • ・1 pkg Yakisoba Noodles

Toppings (optional)

  • ・Dried green seaweed (Aonori) for garnish
  • ・Pickled red ginger (Beni Shoga) for garnish
For Kaonashi
  • ・1 cup rice
  • ・1.7 cup water (to cook rice)
  • ・1 large sheet dried seaweed (Nori)
  • ・1 slice beetroot
  • ・1 slice goat cheese

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1: Make the body. 

Cook rice and make a rice ball. Make sure your rice ball shapes like an egg. To make it easier, I like using a plastic wrap when making rice balls!

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2: Stick on a sheet of dried seaweed, and wrap it. 

Nori (seaweed) will stick to the rice with the moisture on your rice ball. Try squeezing the middle part like in this pictures, so Kaonashi will have a more defined body :D

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3: Make the limbs. 

Cut the nori into thin squares and wrap them around on thinly rolled rice. You can do all the detailed parts like fingers when you build everything together on a plate later.

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4: Make the mouth. 

Cut the beetroot into oval shape. The thinner the better, so it will easily sit on your rice ball!

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5: Cut the goat cheese into pieces!

Make an oval shape for Kaonashi’s face, then little squares for his teeth :D

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6: Start assembling Kaonashi! 

Place the limbs under the body, then cut the tip of the limbs twice and make fingers. Wrap the whole Kaonashi and rest it somewhere until you finish cooking Yakisoba.

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7: Start working on Yakisoba! 

Chop the veggies into small pieces like this.

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8: Stir-fry the veggies. 

Stir-fry the veggies until the onion turns see-through. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

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9: Wash the noodles. 

Quickly run water over the yakisoba noodles to separate them—usually they are stuck together from the package!

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10: Add the noodles in the pan. 

Lower the heat to medium and add the noodles. Keep stirring and make sure not to burn the bottom of your pan!

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11: Add the Yakisoba Sauce.

Mix it all together with the spatula.

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12: Place Kaonashi on the Yakisoba. 

Grab the Kaonashi you created earlier and simply put him on top of the Yakisoba. Try placing some of the noodles on Kaonashi’s mouth, so he would look more scary than ever!

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Some of you might have noticed, but this Kaonashi I made today is that particular “pissed-off Kaonashi” when he got all crazy and swallowed a frog. If you are a nerd like me who wants to follow the original, I recommend adding Hijiki on top of his head like this. That “pissed-off Kaonashi” has hair, if you missed it in the film!

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There you go, a very mysterious Kaonashi Yakisoba. Just in case, I asked the magazine editor what she thinks and her reply made my day: “It’s so disgusting! I love it.”

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Here comes the eating part. I knew that it would make a horror scene but it really did look scary when I tried to slice him open with a knife. Sorry Kaonashi…. this is the only way of slicing you in half….

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All the attention pretty much goes into how creepy Kaonashi is, but the food itself is actually really good too. I didn’t add any meat but Yakisoba is already rich in flavor, so I don’t really think it’s necessary. My food connoisseur boyfriend really loved this food and here is what Kaonashi ended up look like:

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I decided to join as well. I can almost hear his scream…..

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This food is so questionable but it’s perfect for Halloween! In fact, you don’t really need a reason to cook special meals. It’s a wonderful thing that you can do to cook for someone you love, no matter who!

Good luck in the kitchen <3
xo
-Yuki

For more supercute cooking for healthy geeks, be sure to head over to Yukitchen!

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All images © and used with permission of Yukitchen