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I always have at least two packets of shirataki and 1-2 packets of konnyaku in the fridge at all times. I only use them for sukiyaki. It's a really easy dish to prepare and usually cooked at the table with a portable burner. Because it doesn't have a tendency to get all smooshy, it's great in hotpot recipes.

I interchange konnyaku blocks and shirataki when I make sukiyaki. I have a feeling that most will be put off by the somewhat fishy smell as it comes out of the package. Once it is rinsed, however, the scent more or less goes away. It has a rubbery texture that I adore. I prefer the shirataki that is brown-grey with black specks in it because it looks so rustic. :)

I initially spent 45 minutes typing up the sukiyaki recipe and deleted it because it was WAAAAY too long. It's honestly a very simple meal to prepare but it takes a lot of explanation. :P

As was said above, they are not a good substitute for pasta. I tried to do that with the tofu shirataki and as well as not having the right taste or texture, the sauce didn't stick to the noodles at all so that's a lose, lose, lose situation. I do however eat the regular shirataki noodles as a substitute for bean thread and sweet potato noodles in all sorts of Japanese and Korean dishes. They work great in Jap Chae. If I were to use the tofu noodles again, I would probably stick to soups.

If after you thoroughly rinse the noodles you find they still smell fishy, blanche them for a minute or two before using them. That should get rid of any residual fishiness.

@Cassaendra--I haven't had sukiyaki since I was a kid! My mom would do the portable burner at the table as well. Ah, memories. I made a trip to a "mega" Asian store yesterday, so I have four brand new cartridges of propane for the table top cooker...sukiyaki would sure be good for dinner.

Do post your recipe, please.

It's ok, if you can sort of approximate. Like, a big pich of this, a couple glugs of that, a few handfulls of yadda yadda.... We're all cooks here!

Here's my sukiyaki recipe...

Warning: This is typically served as a communal dish! Although it can be made for one.

Ingredients:
1 lb wafered lean beef (or 2 lb if you LOVE meat)
Chinese cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
12 oz block extra firm tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes
14 oz shirataki, rinse and drain
1 bag enoki mushrooms
7-8 young bamboo shoot tips (skinny) or a can of sliced bamboo shoots if you can’t find whole shoots
2 shiitake, rehydrated
1 Japanese leek (or scallion) – I don’t eat onions so I don’t use it
vegetable oil
raw egg
cooked medium-grain white rice

Stock:
soy sauce
water
sake
brown sugar

Mix soy sauce, water, and sake (1 : 2 : 1/2 ratio, respectively, is a good start) with brown sugar – adjust to taste. It shouldn’t be extremely salty or very sweet. The amount depends on the size of your deep pan that you’ll be cooking and serving this dish in. I usually make enough that it stands under an inch when poured in the pan. Set aside.

Since I don’t have a way to cook at the table, I cook the entire batch at once. If you can cook at the table, cook each ingredient in equal parts in small portions and refill ingredients as needed.

On medium heat, add some oil to the pan. Separate the thin slices of meat and cook it in the pan so they’re not stuck together. If you can buy sukiyaki meat at a Japanese grocer, it’ll come with a brick of fat that looks like a small eraser. Use that instead of the oil.

Once the meat is mostly cooked, move it to one part of the pan.

Add the stock. Throw in the shiitake mushrooms.

Add the Chinese cabbage and cook for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, flip the meat around so the meat sitting above the stock is now in the stock. Move the cabbage alongside the meat.

Do not mix the ingredients together so they intermingle. Each ingredient should stand in its own quadrant.

Add the shirataki. Cook for a couple of minutes and mix it so the noodles are coated with the base. Move the noodles alongside the cabbage.

Add tofu and cook it so the tofu is evenly coated with the stock as possible. The pan will be pretty full.

Flip the meat, cabbage, and shirataki.

Add the bamboo shoots. Mix it around so it’s coated.

I usually make room in the middle and add the enoki mushroom bunch, in front of the meat, then move the two shiitake to the center with it. This is purely aesthetic.

One last time…flip the ingredients in the stock. . (I’m probably being OCD at this point)

Throw the leek in and simmer for a few minutes. I don’t eat onions, so I never use leeks, but every restaurant serves it and my mother used it. It’s all yours.

Serve with white rice in a small bowl. The raw egg is cracked and beaten in a separate small bowl for personal consumption. Dip a small portion of the now pretty steaming hot medley into the cold egg and eat with rice.

Because it’s a hotpot type of dish, you can add/drop ingredients that you like/don’t like, e.g., white onions, other types of noodles, spinach, carrots. Whether it will mesh well, who knows? There are also variations on when to add the stock - beginning, middle, or end - and the use of mirin instead of sake.

I think...hope...that covers it. :)