Updated post on 17-2-2017

I have decided to share a hand made noodles recipes by cutting method. Though it does not look as good as the machine made, but it will facilitate those readers who does not have any machines.

You can either choose recipe 1 or recipe 2 of which one is with eggs and another is plain noodles. 

INTRODUCTION

I have prepared some meat pongteh last night and quite a lot was left.

My wife said that the sauce were nice to eat with noodles and I concurred. In the next morning, I prepared some egg noodles.

I blanched the egg noodles and used them to cook this simple braised noodles.

As I have quite a noodles left, I stored in the fridge and I used these blanched noodles to prepare some stir fry noodles for my kids 2 days later.

Most egg noodles recipes are the same.. nothing to shout about.. 1 cup of plain flour with 2 eggs of about 50 grams of each and you will be surprised that these egg noodles is the same recipe as for Western spaghettis.

I am sure I need not to elaborate any further about these egg noodles since it is a common staple item in Asian households. However, it is no harm to understand what Wikipedia have defined these noodles.

“The noodle is a type of staple food  made from some type of unleavened dough which is rolled flat and cut into one of a variety of shapes. While long, thin strips may be the most common, many varieties of noodles are cut into waves, helices, tubes, strings, or shells, or folded over, or cut into other shapes. Noodles are usually cooked in boiling water, sometimes with cooking oil or salt added. They are often pan-fried or deep-fried. Noodles are often served with an accompanying sauce or in a soup. Noodles can be refrigerated for short-term storage, or dried and stored for future use. In American English usage, the word “noodle” is an inclusive term that denotes flour paste products in various shapes. In British English usage it generally denotes a food in the form of long, thin strips of flour paste products. “ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noodle)

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings : about 2-3 persons

• 1 cup of plain flour (or other types of flour such as wholemeal flour) that you prefer.
• 2 eggs
• Few tablespoons of milk of water (optional)
• Pinches of salt
• Extra flour for rolling and cutting

Recipe 2 Without Eggs

• 500 grams of plain flour
• 225 grams of plain water
• Pinches of salt 
• Some more plain flour or corn flour for dusting 

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Put eggs and flour in a mixing bowl. Use a standing mixer to knead until it become a pliable dough. If the it is too dry to form a pliable dough, add in milk or water tablespoon by tablespoon. The dough should be rather soft and comfortable to touch. Once done, let it rest for 45 minutes to one hour before rolling or cutting. Cover the dough with some clingy wrap. If you do not have a standing mixer, just use hand to knead. As long as it form a pliable dough and do not stick to your hand, it is acceptable.

• Once done, divide the dough into small chunks. Use the noodle machine to roll it as thin as you would like. In this case, I use no. 5 to roll the dough into flat piece. Dust the flat dough with some flour and transfer the flat dough to the noodle cutting section. Cut the the dough using the machine and dust with additional flour. It is best that you hang the homemade noodles using a stick to avoid sticking to each other. However, as I do not have such stick, I just placed it in a container.

NOTES

• If it is too sticky to roll the dough, pat the dough with flour until it is can be rolled and cut. Experience shows that one needs quite a lot extra flour to facilitate the rolling and cutting.

• Once done, you can either keep the noodles in an air tight container or air/sun dried. However, I personally prefer to blanch the noodles in a pot of water with 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Once the noodles are in the hot boiling water, use few chopsticks to tear apart the noodles to prevent them from sticking together. Once cooked, drained and put in icy cold water for about 5 minutes to avoid sticking to each other. Once the noodles cooled, keep it in an air tight container and in the refrigerator.

• This is the basic noodles recipe and if you want it to be more springy or chewy, you can reduce the egg (liquid) slightly. The less liquid in the dough, the more chewy it is. If you like soft noodles, you can add a few more tablespoons of water . However, the softer the dough, the more difficult for it to be rolled and cut.

• If you prefer, you can add in some alkaline water (1 teaspoon of alkaline water with 1 cup of flour) to enhance the stretch ability of the noodles.

• If you are vegetarian, instead of using eggs, just use plain water (about 100-120 grams of water as per above recipe.

• If you want to have a stronger egg fragrance, substitute  one whole egg with 2 egg yolks in the above recipe, your noodles will be more aromatic and yellowish.

• If you do not have an noodles making machine, just roll the dough flat using a rolling pin and use a sharp knife to cut the rolled dough.

• If you like spinach noodles, substitute part of the liquid with spinach juice.. If you like wholemeal noodles, use wholemeal flour for the preparation. Variations are many.

Hand cutting noodles 

• In a mixing bowl, put the flour and salt. Add the water and use a chopstick to stir until it resemble a crumble form. Use hand to knead until it forms a pliable dough. If you want chewy springy noodles, knead the dough until it is smooth. If you want softer noodles, there is no need to knead until a very smooth dough. After resting, the dough will become smooth.

• Cover the dough with a piece of wet cloth and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. The longer the resting, the more springy will be the noodles.

• In a work surface heavily dusted with corn flour or plain flour, use a rolling pin to roll the dough as thin as you want. As a guideline, a 1-2 mm thickness is acceptable. Sprinkle more flour to avoid sticking.

• Fold the dough and use a sharp knife to cut into your desired width. To avoid sticking, more flour need to be added. 

CONCLUSION

It is not difficult to prepare noodles at home. Of course with the noodle machine, life will be much easier. It cost me about SGD35 to get hold of a machine. Don’t be deterred if you do not own one, families in many part of China are using knife to cut the noodles.. Why don’t you give it a try?

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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