Handmade Noodles

Make your own flat noodle or pan mee If you know how to make bread, you will know how to make noodle. Here it goes:

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 Put dough ingredients in a large bowl with egg in the centre. Beat on medium speed till smooth, about 3 minutes. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 10 minutes. Cover with damp cloth and let stand to prove for 1 hour. Divide the dough into 10 portions. Use a noodle maker or a rolling pin to roll each portion into thin sheets of about 0.5 mm. Use the thin noodle mode to roll the thin dough sheets into strands of noodle, like that of wanton noodle. Set aside for blanching before serving. Alternatively, use knife or a pair of scissors to cut into strands. Noodle is ready for use. Before cooking the noodle, it needs to be blanched first. For blanching, put each portion of noodle into boiling water for 30 seconds. Dish out and rinse thoroughly with tap water to prevent strands from sticking together. Toss noodle with a tsp of onion oil in a serving bowl to further prevent sticking. sssSSH...Grandma said: The process of making wheat noodle is almost the same as that of making bread; minus the yeast, and thus minus the rise and the punch factor. The rise process in bread making is replaced by the proving process in noodle making.

Secret of making good noodle Good noodle is one that gives the right texture, not too hard and not too soft, and does not get soggy on standing after cooking or blanching. The inclusion of corn flour in noodle making ingredients is vital in getting good noodle. Corn flour adds 'body' to the noodle. More egg in substitution for water also gives the same effect. (Pic: Noodle maker to cut strands into varying uniform thickness)

Dry Chili Pan Mee - ( Flat Chili Noodle ) The noodles texture must be just right, not to hard and not too soft. The combination of the minced pork, bull's eye egg, the crispy fried anchovies and the indispensable flaky chili sauce give a very unique and absolutely delicious flavor. Chili pan mee has become a craze in Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur. It has become a 'must-not-miss' signature noodle dish if you visit Kuala Lumpur. (Pic shows the signature flaky chili sauce in a spoon to be added to the chili pan mee at the most popular Kin Kin restaurant )

As a general rule, Chinese egg noodles are long since length symbolizes longevity and good luck. Besides, long noodle taste much better than short ones, any logic? Probably, it must be due to the satisfaction derived from feel of completeness from long noodle, or by tradition. The same goes to spaghetti, we enjoy rolling the long strands before putting inside the mouth. We feel that would taste better, right?

There is a wide range of shapes for Chinese noodles, including rounded spaghetti-like noodles,
( wanton noodle or Hong Kong noodle; yellow noodle ), slim flat noodle called pan mee ( Shanghai noodle, pan mien ) and other shapes like the Mongolian noodle or 'tear' pan mien. As a general rule, almost all fresh noodles are fast cooking. Most fresh noodles are already al dente before being blanched or cooked. For dried noodles, time taken to become al dente ranges from 1 minute (rice vermicelli ) to 5 minutes ( dried Shanghai noodles. )

Proper preparation of noodle to get the right texture and hardness, before actual cooking is of vital importance for a successful tasty noodle dish. The finished noodle must be long and chewy and not short and soggy. Blanching with running tap water is an important intermediate stage to halt further cooking and softening.

There are different ways of cooking Chinese noodle:

Fried noodle ( chow mien ), braised noodle, soup noodle, lo mien, yee mien (deep fried crispy noodle), kon-lo mien ( blanched noodle added with little soup concentrate).

Source:

http://www.chiliwonders.com/noodle.making.htm