Agar Diet is a hot topic in Japan. Agar is an ingredient like gelatin, but it is very good for your health and diet. Let’s find out!
Agar Diet And Health Benefits
Agar is classified as a sea vegetable. It contains the highest amount of dietary fiber among any food categories. It has over 70g of dietary fiber per 100g.
Furthermore, agar has both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber. That is not all! Agar is rich in minerals. Below is the notable list of health benefits.
- Prevent Obesity
- Eliminate Constipation
- Lower Blood Pressure Level
- Lower Cholesterol Level
- Lower Blood Sugar Level
- Strengthen Bones and Teeth
- Maintain Healthy Eyes and Brain
Agar History
Agar is called Kanten in Japanese. Kanten was originally created in Japan back in the 1600s. An innkeeper left a Japanese jelly (Tokoroten) outside. The jelly became frozen due to cold weather. Then, he came up with the method for how to make Kanten. This is how freeze dried agar was born!
Over the following centuries, this binding agent produced so many unique sweets in so many local cuisines! Yokan and Kintsuba are popular sweets using agar.
Agar vs. Gelatin
Gelatin is a more popular binding agent in the United States. Let’s compare the difference.
First of all, agar is made out of red algae. The main ingredient is dietary fiber. On the other hand, gelatin is made out of collagen. The main ingredient is protein.
Second, agar is almost zero calories. However, gelatin has 24 calories per 100 g. Therefore, agar diet makes more sense!
Third, agar firms up at a room temperature. Gelatin needs to be refrigerated to solidify.
Finally, gelatin melts at room temperature. However, agar does not melt at room temperature. Agar melts at the temperature of boiling water. Therefore, agar diet is gentle to the stomach. You want to avoid cold food and drink for intestinal flora!
Agar Diet Cooking Method
In Japan, agar is sold in different forms. They are: powder, sticks, noodle, and so forth. The most popular and easiest form is powder. This is the common one that you can find in Asian or health food stores in the United States.
A small amount of powder will bind water. Use 1 teaspoon of powder for 1 cup of water. You will be amazed how much water agar can hold.
First, stir agar powder into warm water before boiling in a pot. Then, continue to cook for a couple of minutes after boiling. Keep stirring and make sure that powder is completely dissolved.
After you pour cooked agar in a container, it immediately starts to solidify. Therefore, no refrigeration required.
You can change the texture of agar as you desire. If you like harder texture, add 1 teaspoon (2g) to 250ml water. If you like softer texture, add 1/2 teaspoon (1g) to 250ml water.
Also, agar powder can be directly combined with ingredients while cooking. Hence, it works well with ground meats. It helps to bind meats and keep moisture inside.
I will not ask you to eat Japanese agar sweets to lose weight. Agar can be very flexible when it comes to cooking. Furthermore, you can cook agar for main dish, salad, soup, and more. Let’s cook 500 calories set meal and experience amazing agar diet!
Japanese Agar Hamburger 500 Calories Set Meal
~Menu~
Main: Japanese Agar Hamburger
Side 1: Agar Gathered Vegetables
Side 2: Agar Milk Pudding
Soup: Agar Tomato Soup
Agar Rice
Total 495 calories
All recipes are made for 2 servings. This printable recipe box will allow you to change the serving size to adjust the recipe.
Main: Japanese Agar Hamburger
246 calories
In Japan, everybody loves homemade hamburger, called “hamburg”. It is different from hamburger you know in the united states. It is sort of Japanese meatloaf.
The typical recipe includes ground beef, ground pork, minced onion, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs. They are kneaded and shaped in oval.
Here eggs and breadcrumbs are binding elements. And of course, these will add more calories to the dish. There is no way to make hamburger as main dish because we are cooking 500 calories set meal. We can resolve the issue if we use the agar diet cooking method.
If you mix agar into the meat, ground meat sticks together And it cuts back calories, and adds dietary fiber to it. That’s not all! You will enjoy moist hamburger!
Since we are making Japanese style hamburger, we add ginger and soy sauce into the meat. Ketchup is optional because it tastes good as is.
When hamburger gets cold, the texture gets harder. When this happens, just heat up the hamburger in a microware. It is back to moist!
- 100 g ground beef 85% Extra Lean
- 100 g ground pork 90% Extra Lean
- 20 g onion minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- salt & pepper
- 1 teaspoon agar powder
- 40 g broccoli cooked
- 4 teaspoon ketchup Optional
- Combine ground beef and pork well until it becomes sticky in bowl.
- Mix in minced onion, grated ginger, soy sauce, salt and pepper into the bowl.
- Add agar powder and mix well.
- Make two oval shaped patties. Press the middle of the patty.
- Place the pressed side down in frying pan. Cook with low to medium heat for 3 minutes.
- Turn over the meat.
- Add 2 tablespoon of water and cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes.
- Poke the thickest part of the meat with a chopstick. If the juice is clear, it is done!
- Place hamburger, broccoli, and ketchup on plate.
Side 1: Agar Gathered Vegetables
22 calories
You will enjoy agar diet when you make this side dish because it looks fancy. Add colorful ingredients to make it look pretty. It is easy to fix with vegetables you already have.
When you add meat such as chicken or shrimp to the recipe, it can transform to main dish!
I used chicken broth, but you can use vegetable broth, and dashi.
- 1 teaspoon agar powder
- 250 ml water
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon or chicken base
- 40 g 40g Mixed vegetables or any cooked vegetables
- Cook mixed vegetables.
- Place water and chicken bouillon in a pot. Turn on heat
- Stir in Agar powder and bring to boil. Continue to cook for a couple of minutes while stirring. Make sure that powder is completely dissolved
- Add cooked vegetables in the pot.
- Pour in a square container. Leave it until it firms up.
- Cut into square sizes and scoop it up.
Side 2: Agar Milk Pudding
45 calories
Do you want to add a dessert to 500 calories set meal? Of course!
Thanks to agar diet. This Agar Milk Pudding is very low in calories. And easy to make!
You can add your favorite fruit. When you use 2 or 3 different kinds of fruits, it makes prettier.
Try to minimize the amount of sugar. Add sweeter fruits. If you add sour fruit, pour honey over the dessert instead of adding more sugar.
Remember not to add cold milk because the liquid will start firming up.
- 1 teaspoon agar powder
- 50 ml water
- 100 ml milk
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 40 g kiwi or any fruit
- Stir in agar powder to warm water in a pot. Continue to cook for a couple of minutes while stirring. Make sure that powder is completely dissolved.
- Add warm milk into the pot
- Add cut fruit. Leave few pieces of fruit to decorate.
- Pour in a square container.
- After few minutes, place the pieces on the top. Leave it until it firms up completely.
- Cut into square sizes and scoop it up.
Soup: Agar Tomato Soup
22 calories
This is a magic soup. Why? Because the texture changes depending on how warm the soup is.
When it is out of the hot pot, you will not notice the thickness of the soup. As soup starting cooling off, it starts thickening up.
By the time the soup cools down to room temperature, you will end up picking up Tomato jello. It is still good!
- 1/2 teaspoon agar powder
- 250 ml chicken broth or water & bouillon
- 100 g tomato canned diced
- 1 clove garlic
- dried parsley
- salt & pepper
- Stir in Agar powder into warm chicken broth in the pot (before boiling point). Continue to stir until boiling. Keep cooking for a couple of minutes until powder is completely dissolved.
- Add tomatoes and grated garlic.
- Bring to boil. Cook for a coupe of minutes.
- Add salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle dried parsley when you serve.
100 g of Agar Rice
160 calories
Let’s not forget about agar diet even if you eat rice. Good news is that you will not even know the difference. But adding Agar into rice will give you more dietary fiber.
Add 1 teaspoon (per 1 cup of uncooked rice) of agar powder into the pot right before cooking. Stir and immediately cook.
Each 500 calories set meal comes with 100g of steamed rice. You will need to cook rice in a rice cooker or in a heavy gage pot. And measure cooked rice for 100 grams. I will show you how to make your cooking life easier. Read more How To Cook And Store Japanese Rice.