Making Chinese Noodles 麵條

Cooking the Noodles.
1. Boil a pot of water and put a bowl of cold water by the side.
2. Put each portion of noodle into boiling water for 3mins.
3. Dish out and rinse thoroughly with cool water to prevent strands from sticking together.  Put back into the boiling water to reheat for another  30 seconds
4. Toss noodle with a tsp of onion oil and light soy sauce in a serving bowl.
5. Add a few drops of rice vinegar .
6  Serve with slice pieces of meat and minced meat.

* If you are making Kam Pua or Sarawak Foochow noodles, then skip step 3-5 but  instead toss noodles with lard and light soy sauce..

 

Basic noodles
2 cup plain flour
4 tablespoon of tapicoa flour or corn starch
1/2 cup  water
1 tsp salt

Method:
A stiff dough is prepared from flour and water.  Cover with a cloth or plastic and allow it to rest for 20 minutes. The resting time allows the flour to absorb water uniformly and make the dough more pliable and easier to handle.
Flatten the dough with a rolling pin and make a sheet 1mm thick. Dust with tapioca starch /flour to prevent noodles sticking together. Roll the sheet into a log and cut slice of the width desired for the noodles. A pasta machine can be used to roll and cut the dough evenly.

Egg noodles / Kwang Tung Mein   (more tasty and chewy)
4 cups plain flour
4 tablespoon of tapioca starch or corn starch (flour)
1egg
1tsp salt
1 cup water
1 of bicarbonate of soda or  alkaline water (kansui )- optional

Few drops of  rice vinegar (after cooked)

Method
Beat eggs until light and add in all ingredients.  Mix well and knead  to make a very stiff dough. Cover with a cloth or plastic and allow it to rest for 20 minutes. The resting time allows the flour to absorb water uniformly and make the dough more pliable and easier to handle.

Roll out on floured board until very thin about 1mm . Dust top with tapioca flour and roll up like jelly roll. Cut in desired widths. Dust with tapioca flour to prevent sticking as necessary. A pasta machine can be used to roll and cut the dough evenly or rolled up jelly-roll fashion and sliced through with a knife at the desired width.

Basic Lamain Noodles 
2 cups flour
1 cup water
1tsp salt

2g ( pinch) of Kansui * (to be added to the water optional)

*Kansui or alkaline water weakens the flour proteins. Improves moisture retention by hydrating the starches and produce a more pliable dough that facilitates pulling the noodles but it  also  gives a harder  noodles.

Method:
A stiff dough is prepared from flour and water. Knead the dough thoroughly, cover with a cloth, and allow it to rest for 60 minutes to relax the gluten and allows the flour to absorb water uniformly and make the dough more pliable and easier to handle. The dough is placed on a countertop with plenty of flour and stretched until it looks like a long thick rope. The rope is folded in half, twisted and stretched back to its original length approximately ten times This process is repeated until noodles are of the appropriate thickness 

Pan Mein  made easy (Flat wheat noodles)



Ingredients
600 g plain wheat flour
4 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp corn oil
4 tbsp water
4 egg
salt and pepper to taste
 
Method
1. Put dough ingredients in large mixer bowl with egg in the centre.
2. Beat on medium speed till smooth, about 3 minutes. Keep aside to rest for 20minutes.
3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 10 minutes. Cover with damp cloth and let stand for 1 hour.
4. Divide the dough into 10 portions.
5. Use a noodle maker or a rolling pin to roll each portion into thin sheets of about 0.5 mm. ou can also roll up the noodles sheets like a swiss-roll and  use a knife or a pair of scissors to cut into strands.
6. Put each portion of noodle into boiling water for 3mins. Dish out and rinse thoroughly with cool water to prevent strands from sticking together.  Put back into the boiling water to reheat for another  30 seconds
7..  Toss noodle with a tsp of onion oil in a serving bowl.


Green or Orange colour Noodles



Green or Orange noodles are made by adding some spinach or radish.
The spinach or radish are first blended or pounded into a paste and added to the recipe.
Green spinach noodles are slightly sweeter than the ordinary basic noodles.

See also Related links - How to make Lao Shu Fen (chinese short rice noodles)

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