Chinese noodles

Misua noodle making in Lukang, Taiwan

Chinese noodles are an essential ingredient and staple in Chinese cuisine. There is a great variety of noodles, which vary according to their region of production, ingredients, shape or width, and manner of preparation.

Chinese noodles are an important part of most regional cuisines within China, as well as in Taiwan, Singapore, and other Southeast Asian nations with sizable overseas Chinese populations. Chinese noodles have also entered the cuisines of neighboring East Asian countries such as Korea and Japan (dangmyeon and ramen, for example, are both of Chinese origin), as well as Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Nomenclature

A Northwest hand-pulled noodle restaurant in Australia

Nomenclature of Chinese noodles can be difficult due to the vast spectrum available in China and the many dialects of Chinese used to name them. In Chinese, miàn (simplified Chinese: 面; traditional Chinese: 麵; often transliterated as "mien" or "mein" ) refers to noodles made from wheat, while fěn (粉) or "fun" refers to noodles made from rice flour, mung bean starch, or indeed any kind of starch. Each noodle type can be rendered in pinyin for Mandarin, but in Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong it will be known by its Cantonese pronunciation. Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and many other Overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia will use Hokkien (Min Nan) instead.

History

Although the Chinese, Arabs, and Italians have all claimed to have been the first to create noodles, the first written account of noodles dates from the Chinese East Han Dynasty, between AD 25 and 220. During the Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279) noodle shops were very popular in the cities, and remained open all night.

In October 2005, the oldest noodles yet discovered were found in Qinghai, China, at the Lajia archaeological site, during excavation of a Neolithic Qijia culture settlement along the Yellow River.^[1] The 4,000-year-old noodles appear to have been made from foxtail millet and broomcorn millet.^[2] Today, millet is not a commonly used ingredient in Chinese noodles.

Production

Pulling wheat dough into thin strands to form lamian

Chinese noodles are generally made from either wheat flour, rice flour, or mung bean starch, with wheat noodles being more commonly produced and consumed in northern China and rice noodles being more typical of southern China. Egg, lye, cereal may also be added to noodles made from wheat flour in order to give the noodles a different colour or flavor. Arrowroot or tapioca starch are sometimes added to the flour mixture in low quantities to change the texture and tenderness of the noodles' strands.

The dough for noodles made from wheat flour is typically made from wheat flour, salt, and water, with the addition of eggs or lye depending on the desired texture and taste of the noodles. Rice- or other starch-based noodles are typically made with only the starch or rice flour and water. After the formation of a pliable dough mass, one of five types of mechanical processing may be applied to produce the noodles:

• Cut (切) - The dough is rolled out into a flat sheet, folded, and then cut into noodles of a desired width.
• Extruded (擠壓) - The dough is placed into a mechanical press with holes through which the dough is forced to form strands of noodles.
• Peeled (削) - A firm dough is mixed and formed into a long loaf. Strips of dough are then quickly sliced or peeled off the loaf directly into boiling water.
• Pulled (拉) - The dough is rolled into a long cylinder, which is then repeatedly stretched and folded to produce thinner and thinner strands.
• Kneaded (揉) - A small ball of dough is lightly rolled on a flat surface until it is several centimetres long and spindle shaped.

While cut and extruded noodles can be dried to create a shelf-stable product to be eaten months after production, most peeled, pulled and kneaded noodles are consumed shortly after they are produced.

Cooking

Noodles may be cooked from either their fresh (moist) or dry forms. They are generally boiled, although they may also be deep-fried in oil until crispy. Boiled noodles may then be stir fried, served with sauce or other accompaniments, or served in soup, often with meat and other ingredients. Certain rice-noodles are made directly from steaming the raw rice slurry and are only consumed fresh.

Unlike many Western noodles and pastas, Chinese noodles made from wheat flour are usually made from salted dough and therefore do not require the addition of salt to the liquid in which they are boiled. Chinese noodles also cook very quickly, generally requiring less than 5 minutes to become al dente and some taking less than a minute to finish cooking, with thinner noodles requiring less time to cook. Chinese noodles made from rice or mung bean starch do not generally contain salt.

Chinese noodle types

Wheat flour based

These noodles are made only with wheat flour and water. If the intended product are dried noodles, salt is almost always added to the recipe.

Lye-water or egg

These wheat flour noodles are more chewy in texture and yellow in colour either due to the addition of lye (sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, calcium hydroxide, or potassium hydroxide) or egg. Lye water noodles also have a subtle but distinctive smell.

Rice based

Rice based noodles can be：

1. Extruded from a paste and steamed into strands of noodles
2. Steamed from a slurry into sheets and then sliced into strands

These noodles are typically made only with rice and water without the addition of salt. Although unorthodox, some producers may choose add other plant starches to modify the texture of the noodles.

Starch based

These noodles are made with plant starches. Mung bean starch noodles will often be cut with tapioca starch to make them more chewy and reduce production costs.

Signature Chinese noodle dishes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chinese noodles

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• Cart noodle
• Char kway teow
• Zhajiang mian
• Laksa
• Lo mein
• Re gan mian

See also

• Chinese cuisine
• Japanese noodles
• Korean noodles
• Noodle soup

References

External links

• Cook's Thesaurus: Asian Noodles
• BBC Food recipe