Noodles and Rice

Homemade Egg (or Eggless) Noodles for Asian dishes

by Stef on October 24th, 2005

Living where we are right now, it is difficult to find good Asian noodles without traveling a couple of hours at least to the nearest Asian store. I could whine and complain all day about this (and sometimes I do), or I can make me some Asian noodles when the mood hits. What I love about making fresh noodles (besides the pleasure of working in the kitchen) is that I can control what goes into it. Given that I hate food coloring in anything, I can avoid the FDC yellow #5 and other colors that go into most commercial noodle preparations.

Noodles are not that difficult to make. All you need is some patience:), and some elbow grease, or a pasta machine. Even the formula is simple enough to remember once you’ve made noodles once or twice. First you have to decide, do you want egg noodles or eggless noodles? The process is the same either way.

A lot of traditional Asian egg noodles are prepared using lye water or potassium carbonate. Since most people either don’t have access to these or simply want to avoid them, I’ve substituted baking soda here, a modern equivalent, always easy to find, and provides the desired “springiness” in noodles. [Lye water is also known as gan sueh in Cantonese, kee in Malaysian and kansu in Japanese.]

For these noodles, here’s what you need:

1 pound all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, optional
Roughly 3/4 cup water (or part of it could be chicken stock if you want to flavor your noodles)
additional flour for rolling pasta dough

If you’re making the noodles in a bowl, mix your dry ingredients briefly, then make a well in the middle to accommodate the egg. Break the egg into the well and mix with a fork. Add water gradually, still mixing with a fork. When it gets too difficult to use the fork, start using your hands! If you’ve ever made yeast bread, this should be easy as pie for you. Add additional flour if necessary. You want the dough supple and stretchable. Not wet at all, though you don’t want it too dry either. At any rate, it shouldn’t stick to your hands when kneaded well. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Keeping the other pieces covered, roll a piece of dough either on a well-floured countertop or using a pasta machine. You want it about 1/16-inch thick. You could of course roll it thicker, as long as you remember that it will cook longer.

If you’re using a countertop, you want to roll your dough loooong and thin. Shoot for at least 12 inches long. (Longer means harder to handle, but also more exciting!) Dust with flour every now and then to keep the pasta from sticking to your work surface. When the dough is thin enough for you, give it a final dusting, shaking off excess flour. Roll your dough up into a cylinder, kinda like rolling cigar or eggrolls. Slice the cylinder into 1/3-inch thick noodles, or however thick you want yours. Here’s my 14-year-old demonstrating how.

If you’re using a pasta machine, simply follow manufacturer’s directions to roll and cut your pasta. I usually like to roll mine to the “6″ setting, and cut it either into linguine (as shown here) or spaghetti.

You can cook the pasta right after you cut it. It will take about 2-3 minutes cooking time in a briskly boiling pot of salted water. Or you can let it dry — hang the cut pasta over a wooden rod, or the back of a chair, or toss them with just the teeniest bit more flour and pile them in neat circles on your countertop — until you are ready to cook.

Do’s and dont’s when making fresh pasta:

• Do be patient with yourself if this is your first time. It does take a bit of getting used to.
• Do remember to dust each piece with flour, shaking off excess, before each rolling. This will prevent the dough from sticking on the work surface or the pasta machine, and you from getting a headache.
• Do try to get your pasta rolled as evenly thick as possible — so it cooks evenly in the pot!
• Do allow your kids to try making some for themselves. Besides the fact that it’s fun for them, you are teaching them the value of good food. And who knows? It may mean that one day you can sit and relax while THEY make the pasta for you.
• Don’t make the pasta sheet too long before you cut it — it’s almost a guarantee that the pasta will break just when you don’t want it to. Although, I’ve seen pasta makers work with 5-feet lengths of pasta dough and it looks tempting enough to try once at home.
• Don’t be tempted to make your pasta too thin — sometimes I get carried away especially when that dough cooperates well, but it may spell disaster later, at cutting or cooking time.

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POSTED IN: Cooking Tips and Tutorials