Misua

Misua (also spelled mee sua or miswa) is a very thin variety of salted Chinese noodles made from wheat flour. It is originated from Fujian, China. They differ from mifen (rice vermicelli) and cellophane noodles in that the latter two are made from rice and mung beans, respectively, and typically a lot thinner than those two varieties.

Preparation

Cooking misua usually takes less than 2 minutes in boiling water, and sometimes significantly less.

Culture

Misua are cooked during important festivities, and eaten in China as well in Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Thailand, and the Philippines. Misua signifies long life in Chinese culture, and as such is a traditional birthday food. It is usually served topped with ingredients such as eggs, oysters, pig's large intestine, shiitake mushroom, beef, shallots, or scallions, and roasted nuts.

In Taiwan, there are two forms of misua. The first is plain, while the second has been steamed at high heat, caramelizing it to a light brown colour. For birthdays, plain misua is usually served plain with pork hocks (猪腳麵線) in stewed broth as a Taiwanese birthday tradition. Brown misua can be cooked for prolonged periods without disintegrating in the cooking broth and is used in oyster vermicelli (蚵仔麵線), a dish popular in Taiwan.

See also

• Chinese noodles
• Oyster vermicelli
• Somen

External links

• Misua page
• Photo of a bowl of misua soup

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