I've been a fan of seaweed edibles since I was a kid and a Japanese classmate of mine let me try her nori-wrapped crackers. I love me some seaweed salad and am fascinated with sea vegetables in general. Having recently discovered kelp noodles are a thing which exists, I quickly secured some to try.
I got
this brand. At first I tried to eat them raw. They're crunchy, like chow mein crunchy, but they taste like nothing at all. So I made an Asian-like chicken salad and dropped the noodles in the pot of chicken stock, water, fresh ginger, green onions and soy in which I had just poached a couple of chicken bewbs and let them sit until I was good and ready. The burner was off, but of course the stock was still burbling so the noodles cooked in the retained heat.
They softened considerably, but still retained a toothsome quality. Most importantly, they absorbed all the flavors around them. They're a tabula rasa on which you can project whatever taste you wish. To test their versatility, I later made a mushroom sauce and used them just like regular pasta, cooking the noodles in the delicious mushroom water I had left after reconstituting dried porcini. Verdict: this shit is dope.
You can also soak them in water with some vinegar to soften them a little without having to cook them, but I haven't tried it yet.