When we see big food, we just can’t help but see it as a challenge. 

If you’ve lived in Japan for a while, you’ve probably heard of Gyomu Super, a wholesale supermarket known for its ultra-low prices. Since it pretty much sells everything in bulk, its products come in huge quantities, which is both great for us as foodies, but also probably bad for us as humans, because inevitably we’re going to try to eat all of it at once.

In the most recent example of this, our Japanese-language reporter Kouhey found a huge 1.5-kilogram (3.3-pound) slab of konnyaku, a semi-firm, Jello-like Japanese food made from the flour of a type of potato called konjac, and immediately decided he had to try and eat the whole thing in one go. He’d never once bought Gyomu Super’s konnyaku before, even though they sell a surprising variety of konnyaku products, but this veritable king of all konnyaku, this 1.5-kilogram monstrosity, Kouhey had to buy. After all, it only cost 256 yen (US$1.69). How could he resist such a cheap challenge?

When he took it home, he realized it was about as big as his iPad!

What’s more, because konnyaku is basically made from potato flour and water, it has almost no calories. 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of konnyaku only contains about 6 calories, so the whole 1.5-kilogram (3.3-pound) slab only amounted to an astonishing 90 calories. If you’re looking for a low-calorie food, you’ve found it here.

Kouhey decided that he was going to use his huge konnyaku slab to make an exorbitant amount of konnyaku steaks based on a recipe from on the channel Masago Group on YouTube.

After taking it out of the plastic wrapping, he carefully wiped it dry with paper towels.

He then cut it in to four pieces…

…Which he then cut into five each, for a total of 20 pieces.

This is where it takes a bit of work He then had to cut crisscrossing slices across the top of each piece.

Doing so allows the seasonings and flavors he will later use to soak into the konnyaku. It was rather time-consuming with so many slabs, but he hoped it would be worth it.

Once that was done, he put them all into a bowl, sprinkled them with salt, and let them sit for 15 minutes.

After that, he wiped them down with paper towels again to make sure he could remove as much of the moisture as possible.

Let’s take a minute to admire the veritable mountain that Kouhey had to work with.

Kouhey then browned the konnyaku steaks in a hot pan. There were so many, he had to do it in two batches!

Once they had a nice browning to them, he added some butter to the pan…

And when the butter melted, he sprinkled over some fried garlic…

And a healthy glug of his favorite yakiniku sauce.

He simmered that concoction until the sauce became thick and sticky.

When it looked ready (konnyaku can be eaten as-is right out of the package so you don’t have to worry about cooking it to temperature), Kouhey removed it to a plate and sprinkled it with white sesame seeds…

Topped it with a liberal helping of chopped green onions…

And voila! It was finished.

Kouhey had never cooked 1.5 kilograms of konnyaku steak before–to be honest, he could count on one hand the number of times he’d ever cooked konnyaku at all–so even though he followed a recipe, he had no idea if he’d done a good job or not.

He didn’t have too much faith in his cooking abilities, so it was with trepidation that he lifted a piece of konnyaku steak to his lips…

“Oh wow!! It’s really good!!

It was completely different from what he expected, but in a good way. Konnyaku is a largely flavorless food, but somehow, with this recipe, it had become really close to the flavor of slowly roasted meat. And it had almost no calories!

It was so good that within five minutes, he’d eaten almost all of the first batch…

And continued on to the second batch without pause.

In the end, he only had about a quarter of it left when he stopped for a break.

Only konnyaku would be so easy to eat so much of! Kouhey had downed more than a kilogram (2.2 pounds) so far. At this point his stomach was feeling a little full, but we at SoraNews24 are never ones to back down from a challenge, and 1.5 kilograms of konnyaku was definitely a challenge. After gulping down a cup of water, he was ready to go again, and finished the whole thing, even to the last bite.

1.5 kilograms of konnyaku, down!

It was really delicious, and all thanks to the recipe. Kouhey doesn’t expect to ever eat a whole 1.5 kilogram slab of konnyaku in one go ever again, but he could see himself happily eating a normal portion of konnyaku steak again, if it was cooked in this style.

If you happen to visit Gyomu Super, perhaps in search of ingredients to make an ultra-cheap, giant, alcoholic parfait, and you happen to spot this huge slab of konnyaku, don’t let its size intimidate you! You don’t have to be like us and eat the whole thing at once, so try using it to experiment with different recipes to suit your taste!

Images © SoraNews24
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