Making Asian Noodles at Home

[marcelcat]

I've made homemade Italian style pastas and spaetzle before, but have searched and searched for recipes for Asian style pastas with no luck in finding recipes. I'm especially interested in noodles that are hard to find in the store, like the thick noodles in Thai Pad see-iew and various others.

Another question - are there any special 'pasta makers' that are used in the far east?

If anyone has any recipes or ideas where to look, please post.

Thanks.

Marcelcat

[Chris Amirault]

I'm very interested in this as well, as I've just got this Ultra Pride+ grinder, which is ideal for making the batter for rice noodles.

The recipe I found floating around online (click here for an example and video) has equal parts rice and water soaked overnight then steamed in pie pans for 5 minutes. Has anyone tried this?

[nakji]

Noodles like soba and udon are usually rolled out on a long square table by hand. Noodle makers use a variety of lengths and weights of long rolling pins to get their desired shape and width. Special knives are used to cut soba, but Chinese noodles can be hand-stretched, a process that's fun to watch and to eat the results of.

[saltedgreens]

I'd love to make ramen noodles. Handmade ramen is difficult to beat in my book.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Always a good excuse to buy another knife--

http://korin.com/Styles/Noodle-Cutting-KnifeMenkiri

[saltedgreens]

Always a good excuse to buy another knife--

http://korin.com/Styles/Noodle-Cutting-KnifeMenkiri

Agreed.

[thayes1c]

Picked up a copy of Lucky Peach earlier in the week and I've set my mind on making fresh ramen noodles this weekend. I've already made sodium carbonate by baking Arm and Hammer (it has a much soapier flavor than unbaked baking soda, so I know something happened!), I've bought the pork shoulder for pulled pork and I'm off to the Asian market tomorrow for further ingredients. Anybody ever tried making their own alkaline noodles before? Any pointers?

[_john]

Ive made them before using a pasta machine and they came out ok. Getting the ph level correct was difficult, I tried a few times before getting it right. I was using kansui which is alkali water. I dusted them with potato flour to keep them from sticking.

[Foodietopo]

Thanks for mentioning Lucky Peach magazine. I just ordered a copy from Amazon Japan. I've never made ramen noodles from scratch, but it's on my things to do list. Let us know how your ramen making turned out.

Edited July 2, 2011 by Foodietopo (log)

[ptau]

do you know if lucky peach has any US editions or does it come in english?

[mkayahara]

I've made the alkaline noodles from issue 1. Just make sure you use the right amount of baked soda: there's a typo in the volume measurement - it should be 4 teaspoons, not tablespoons - but the weight is correct. They're not as hard to knead as he makes them out to be; if you've ever kneaded pasta dough, you'll do fine.

I would be careful how thin you roll them on the pasta machine. I rolled mine too thin, and they ended up being too soft when I cooked them. Yes, I could've just cooked them less, but I'd rather have a thicker noodle anyway.

do you know if lucky peach has any US editions or does it come in english?

Lucky Peach is a US magazine: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/luckypeach

[jaynesb]

You could also check the Harold McGee's article Curious Cook Baking Soda article for additional information although the recipe for alkaline noodles there is different from the one in Lucky Peach.

Jayne

[ojisan]

Could someone post the Lucky Peach recipe?

[emannths]

Could someone post the Lucky Peach recipe?

Blogger with photos and recipes: http://cookingfromtheheart.com.au/2011/09/21/david-chang%E2%80%99s-ramen-from-lucky-peach/

[ojisan]

Could someone post the Lucky Peach recipe?

Blogger with photos and recipes: http://cookingfromtheheart.com.au/2011/09/21/david-chang%E2%80%99s-ramen-from-lucky-peach/

Wow - great blog (and detailed recipe). Thanks.

[Shalmanese]

Lately, I've been getting into Asian noodle making and, for the most part, the resources online in english tend to be either recipes of dubious providence or material from industrial food production. I'm hoping to better understand the mechanics of Asian noodle making and how to get better at it.

Currently, I'm working on my second batch of Alkaline noodles (aka ramen) and here's what I've learned so far:

The resources I used were from Harold McGee, David Chang and Asian Noodle: Science, Technology & Processing

Alkaline noodles are naturally yellow, despite having no egg due to the alkalines releasing natural color molecules from the flour.

I made baked soda (sodium carbonate) from baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) via Harold McGee.

Most recipes use "kansui" which is a mixture of sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate, the potassium carbonate is meant to make a more pronounced yellow flavor. I'm planning on picking up some kansui for my next batch to compare.

Consensus is that you should add 1% alkaline relative to flour, I did my first batch with a 2% mixture because 1% didn't seem very yellow and just to see what happens. The springy "chew" of the noodles was far more pronounced. When boiling, the noodles were practically bulletproof, still retaining an al dente texture after 10 minutes (although the cooking liquid was yellow from leached starch). Also, the noodles become a lot more yellow when cooked. This current batch, I'm doing 1%.

Industrial recipes suggest 32 - 35% hydration, David Chang in Momofuku suggests 37%, I couldn't get it to form a dough until it was around 40% hydration. Even then, the dough wasn't forming a coherent ball and two pieces pushed together would not stick.

Some recipes say knead just enough to let it come together and then rest, others say knead for 10 - 15 minutes for the gluten to develop. I let it knead for a long time but don't expect to be able to do the windowpane test like with western pasta. The dough tore easily but rolled our beautifully.

Recipes are divided on what flour to use, some recipes suggest the flour in Asia is softer than the US and so a mix of AP/cake is correct, others say to use bread flour. I did my first batch with KA Unbleached Bread Flour, this current batch is 2/3 bread & 1/3 AP.

In any case, I'm currently waiting for the second batch to finish resting and I'll report back once they're cooked.

[Carolyn Phillips]

Chinese noodles are certainly interesting enough to warrant their own topic, and so here is a place where we can discuss them in all their wonderful variations. Here is a recipe on alkaline noodles Hong Kong style, as the discussion on using "lye water" in Chinese cooking got me quite interested in seeing what it is about this ingredient that makes noodles special, and also whether I could make them myself. What I've discovered is that they really do add a nice snap to the texture.

Hong Kong style egg fettuccine

Makes 20 ounces fresh noodles, or about 4 servings

1/2 teaspoon alkaline water (jianshui)

2 tablespoons filtered water

2 1/4 cups Korean all-purpose flour

3 large organic eggs

Extra flour for rolling out the dough

(蔥薑撈麵 Tossed with green onions, young ginger, oyster sauce, and oil)

1. Pour the alkaline water into the filtered water before mixing it into the flour and eggs. When these form a soft dough, cover it with a cloth and let it rest for about 30 minutes to relax the gluten.

2. If using a pasta machine, cut the dough into quarters, pat each piece liberally with some of the extra flour, and run them one at a time through the lowest setting on the pasta machine. Fold up each sheet into thirds (like a business letter) and turn it 90 degrees so that the folded edges are on your left and right. Fold it again once more so that it is no wider than the rollers on your pasta machine. Dust it lightly with flour and run it through the rollers again at the lowest setting; repeat this until there are no tears or "lace" in the sheet, and the dough looks soft and silky.

3. Lightly sprinkle the dough with flour and increase the setting to "2," and run it through the rollers as before. Repeat until it is once again silky and increase the setting to 3 and so forth, up to at least the middle setting, which should be "5." Then, lightly dust the sheet, fold it once on itself, and let it rest under a cloth while you repeat these steps with the other three pieces of dough. If you are rolling this out by hand, use the largest rolling pin you have to roll the floured dough out into a thin sheet; this will probably be easiest if you divide the dough into four pieces, as with the machine. Cover each piece with a clean towel while you work on the other pieces.

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5. To cook the noodles, bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil, and have another couple of cups of boiling water ready on the side. Add the noodles and stir gently until the water boils again. Cook the noodles until barely tender, then drain them into a colander set in the sink. Rinse the noodles with cool running water, and then toss them with the extra boiling water. Drain and serve.