Homemade Noodle

Recently, I have grown to love preparing my noodles from scratch. Although the ingredients are simple, it really need a lot of arm muscle to roll out the dough from thick to thin sheet. Freshly made noodles are easier to cook and have a springy texture. Most importantly, the noodles are fresh, and not from hard dried pasta that required a longer cooking time. If you are very very hungry and need to fill your stomach fast, then this is not a good option 😉

Servings: 2 to 3 persons

Ingredients

100g (130) plain flour plus*

20g (30) semolina flour/plain flour plus

20g (25) beaten egg

45g (60) cold water

* plain flour plus has 25% of superfine wholegrain flour being added to the plain flour

Figures in blue ( ) indicate the quantities for 4-person portions

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together till the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

Water to be added slowly and check the wetness of the crumbs. In order for the noodle to be springy after cooking, the dough should be firm and not too wet.

2. Use your hands to gather all the bread-crumb-like dough together, and knead into a firm dough.

Cover the dough and let it rest for about 20 minutes.

3. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a thick sheet.

Fold the dough sheet into half and continue to roll flat.

Repeat the rolling and folding process multiple times, till the dough sheet becomes thin and smooth.

4.  Apply a thin coat of potato or corn starch over the two faces of the dough sheet. This is to prevent the dough sheet from sticking to each other during cutting later.

5. Fold the dough sheet into about 3 to 4 layers.

Cut the dough sheet into thin strands using a sharp knife and cut in a sawing motion. Exert too much force over the dough sheet will cause the layers to stick to each other after cutting. This will cause difficulty in opening out the noodle strands later.

Loosen the strands after cutting.

The raw noodle will expand after cooking, so it is preferably cut in a thinner width.

6. Cook the noodle in boiling water added with salt and oil for about 8 to 10 minutes, or till achieving your preferred texture. A thicker noodle will require a longer cooking time. 

I use the "Noodle-Cooking" function of my IH rice cooker. 

7. Transfer the cooked noodle to a bowl of icy water to halt the cooking process. The noodles are ready to be added to your preferred pasta sauce or cook in your preferred manner 😋

Vegetables Tomato Noodle

As stir-fried noodles

In noodle soup

Braised White Rice Noodle 焖白米粉

Braised dry rice noodle without adding lots of soya sauce to keep the colour light. Not a strong flavourful dish, only used a few light flavour condiments. With the right amount of water added, the rice noodles were soft and springy, but not too oily, too. The honey BBQ pork jerky or bak kwa are the most delectable topping to the dish besides the omelette 😋 To keep the dish simple, only cut red chilli, green scallion slices, and coriander leaves were used as garnishing 😊

Servings: 2 to 3 persons

Ingredients

105g dried rice noodle

7g white scallion, sliced

20g carrot, julienned

110g baby napa cabbage/cabbage, julienned

Sauce

1g low-salt light soya sauce

2g hua diao jiu/rice wine

4g raw sugar

200g + 50g water

5g Knorr vegetable stock cube

Salt to taste

Omelette

1 egg

7g milk

3g fish/light soya sauce

A few shakes of pepper powder

Garnishing

8g green scallion

Some green coriander

Some cut red chilli

4 slices mini bak kwa

Directions

1. Soak dried rice noodle in room temperature water for about 10 minutes. Drain away the excess water. Try not to over-soak the rice noodle, or else it would not have room to absorb the soup later. Set aside.

2. Cut the napa cabbage in length or strips, separating the stems from the leaves.

Julienned the carrot, cut the white and green scallions, red chilli and coriander.

When all the ingredients are prepared, get ready to cook.

3. Prepare the omelette and cut into strips. Set aside.

4. Heat about 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a pot and add in white scallion. When the scallions have became fragrant, stir in the carrot strips, 

followed by the napa stem, 

and leaves. Stir fry till the vegetables have softened.

5. Push the vegetables to one side of the pot, and pour in the first 3 ingredients of the sauce to heat up.

When the sauce ingredients start to bubble, 

pour in the water.

When the soup starts to boil, add in the Knorr vegetable stock cube.

Taste the soup before adding more salt.

6. When the soup starts to boil again, add in the soaked rice noodles. Lower the heat, stir to mix the ingredients, cover with a lid to simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes, or till the rice noodles have soaked up most of the soup. Turn off the heat, and let the simmering continue for another 5 to 10 minutes.

If you find the rice noodles too dry,  pour more hot water over them till they achieve your desired softness.

7. Place bak kwa slices over the hot rice noodles to "steam".

Cover with a lid till serving.