japanese food "Kanten"   english name is Agar

it is like this



One use of agar in Japanese cuisine is anmitsu,
a dessert made of small cubes of agar jelly and served in a bowl
with various fruits or other ingredients. It is also the main ingredient in Mizuyokan, another popular Japanese food,


it is a natural vegetable gelatin counterpart. White and semi-translucent,
it is sold in packages as washed and dried strips or in powdered form.
It can be used to make jellies, puddings, and custards

then now about diet.  if you want to lose weigh

1, eat Kanten  10min before you have meal   that's it

because Kanten is 80% fiber and Zero calories. so it can serve as an intestinal regulator. the kanten diet. Once ingested, kanten triples in size and absorbs water.
 This results in the consumer feeling more full.

moreover  Kanten will be absorb Fat , Calories you took  in your stomach
and excreted .    so good for constipation , diabetes , obesity etc .

I just made  chocolate kanten.
that was used 5g of chocolate , 3g of Kanten and 350cc water  that's all



a friend of mine lost 25pounds  within 3month  without exercise
he just ate  kanten before he has meal

Those agar desserts are soo good!
Where do you buy kanten and what does the package look like?

Thanks Taka! My wife makes these for me...

They are very delicious!

thanks Adam!

hi Tammy,

Kanten is sold  supermarket in Japan, mostly in dry food section  like  instant noodels , tea etc...

that I bought is powder Kanten . that is small package, 40g then 400yen
kanten is in hiragana かんてん　in Kanji 寒天　


if you can't find them in supermarket.  you can find them in Amazon. also

I found  many recipe  on website, i let you know if you wanna know  

this is typical   Kanten dessert  "Milk Kanten"  yummy and healthy

Thanks Takabell...I'm headed to a J store today and will try this. Didn't know you can make a choco one..this is good news!

Takabell...I got the kanten but can't seem to find good recipes online. Where do you find the recipes?

I know many websites , but they are  japanese .....

so you wanna know choco one ?

choco Kanten  recipe (i just made it today)

Water - 150ml
Agar(kanten) - 1 gram
Bitter chocolate - about 10 gram
Sugar - 10 gram

put 1g Agar in 150ml water and stir Agar



Please boiling water and melt the agar enough  about 2 minutes
(water is boiling , please medium heat then melt the agar about 2 min)



then put chocolate in . this is typical bitter chocolate,


I used this one, this one is about 60gram. so I used a 1/6 of it



then  stir chocolate  enough



then put them in container  (there are cute container in 100yen shop)
and then Please chill in the refrigerator　for couple of hours

I made it with miso soup bowl 



actually I always make it  amount of the day  at  a time

I usually make it with 400ml~500ml water for 4 gram Agar powder
amount of sugar and chocolate is  as you like  !

Taka--thanks so much for the recipe and the pictures!

i found some recipe from blogs

chocolate soymilk kanten
http://itoeats.com/2010/07/03/choco...lk-kanten/

almond pudding
http://kanten-world.blogspot.com/2009/01/agar-agar-kanten-recipe-almond-pudding.html

strawberry kanten
http://karmafreecooking.wordpress.com/2007/12/23/strawberry-kanten/

another  Japanese food I want to introduce is Kinako




Kinako is soybean flour ,  is produced by finely grinding roasted soybeans into powder. which contains Calcium magnesium and lots of protein.

For convenience, in recent years, professional athletes are often ingested it with low-fat milk
Kinako is very healthy , moreover The taste is similar to peanut butter　


this is kinako toast
paste butter on toast,  cover sugar-blended-Kinako on toast  , that's it


Oishii desu 

Taka thanks for the info and photos! I love peanut butter, but it's so fattening.

Going shopping tomorrow and will pick up some of the flour. I like soy, but I tried making bread with some soy flour(mixed with wheat) and it tasted beany. Maybe making it into a paste with a li'l sweetener would be good. (with coffee of course!)

hi tammy

kinako is about 100~150yen for 100grams . I often buy it at daiso 100yen shop .
but zushi's grocery sell it 100yen for 200grams

I found a blog

delicious coma : kinako
http://www.deliciouscoma.com/archiv...inako.html

kinako pancakes recipe
http://www.deliciouscoma.com/archiv...cakes.html

Ooo thank you! I just got some today so this site will help a lot. Really appreciate you finding this.