Chinese noodles

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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 mainland 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, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Contents 1 Nomenclature 2 History 3 Production 4 Cooking 5 Chinese noodle types 5.1 Wheat flour based 5.1.1 Lye-water or egg 5.2 Rice based 5.3 Starch based 6 Signature Chinese noodle dishes 7 External links 7.1 Video 8 See also 9 References

[edit] Nomenclature

Nomenclature of Chinese noodles can be difficult due to the vast spectrum available and the many dialects of Chinese used to name them. In Chinese, miàn (traditional Chinese: 麵; simplified Chinese: 面; 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.

The character for miàn (wheat noodles) can be written a number of ways in Chinese. The standard Traditional character is 麵, while the standard Simplified character is 面. Variant characters include 麪, 麺, and 靣. The characters 面 and 麵 are separate characters in Traditional Chinese, the former meaning "face" and the latter meaning "noodles" or "flour". In Simplified Chinese, the two characters have been combined and both meanings are expressed by 面.

[edit] 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 East Han Dynasty, between 25 and 220 AD. In October 2005, the oldest noodles yet discovered were found at the Late Neolithic archaeological site at Lajia, in an excavation of a Qijia culture settlement along the Yellow River in Qinghai, China^[1]. The 4,000-year-old noodles appear to have been made from foxtail millet and broomcorn millet.^[2] Millet is no longer a commonly used ingredient in Chinese noodles. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) noodle shops were very popular in the cities, and remained open all night.

[edit] Production

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, calcium hydroxide, or food colouring may also be added to noodles made from wheat flour in order to give the noodles a yellow colour.

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 four 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 pulled and folded to produce a thinner and thinner strands.

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

[edit] 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.

[edit] Chinese noodle types

[edit] Wheat flour based

These noodles are made only with wheat flour, water, and sometimes salt.

Common English name	Characters	Pinyin	Cantonese	Hokkien	Thai	Western equivalent	Description
Cold noodle	涼麵	liang miàn	loeng mein	-	-	-	-
Daoxiao mian	刀削麵	daoxiao miàn	-	-	-	-	Relatively short flat noodle peeled by knife from a firm slab of dough
Lamian	拉麵	lāmiàn	laai min	-	Ba mee (เส้นบะหมี่)	-	Hand-pulled noodles; similar to ramen
Lo mein	撈麵	lāo miàn	lo mein	-	-	-	Wheat flour noodles that are stir fried with sliced vegetables and/or meats and other seasonings
Misua	麵線 宮麵	miànxiàn or gōngmiàn	min sin	misua	-	Long, short, very fine Vermicelli	Thin, salted wheat noodles (1 mm diameter). Can be caramelized to a brown colour through extensive steaming
Saang mein	生麵	shēngmiàn	saang min	-	-	-	Soapy texture
Thick noodles	粗麵	cū miàn	cou mein	-	-	-	Thick wheat flour noodles, similar to udon

[edit] Lye-water or egg

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

Common English name	Characters	Pinyin	Cantonese	Hokkien	Thai	Western equivalent	Description
Oil noodles	油麵	yóumiàn	jau4 min	-	-	-	Made of wheat flour and egg or lye-water; often comes pre-cooked
Thin noodles	幼麵	yòu miàn	jau mein	-	-	-	Thin lye-water noodles; one of the most common Cantonese noodles
Mee pok	麵薄	miàn báo	-	mee pok	mee pok	Linguine	Flat egg or lye-water noodles
Yi mein	伊麵 伊府麵	yīmiàn yīfǔmiàn	yi mein yee min yee foo min	ee mee ee foo mee	-	-	Fried, chewy noodles made from wheat flour and egg or lye-water
Shrimp roe noodles	蝦子麵	xiāzǐ miàn	ha tsz min	-	-	-	Made of wheat flour, lye-water, and roe, which show off as black spots

[edit] 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.

Common English name	Characters	Pinyin	Cantonese	Hokkien	Thai	Western equivalent	Description
Kway teow	粿条	gǔotiáo	kwai tiu	kway teow	Sen yai (เส้นใหญ่)	Rice fettuccine	Flat rice noodles
Ho fun	沙河粉 河粉	Shāhé fěn or héfěn	ho fun	hor fun	-	Rice pappardelle	Very wide, flat, rice noodles
Lai fun	瀨粉 酹粉	lài fěn	laai fun	-	-	Thick rice spaghetti	Thick round semi-transparent noodle made from sticky rice
Mai sin	米線 米线	mǐxiàn	mai sin	-	Sen lek (เส้นเล็ก)	Rice spaghetti	Rice noodles also called Guilin mífěn (桂林米粉)
Rice vermicelli	米粉	mífěn	mai fun	bee hoon	Sen mee (เส้นหมี่)	-	Thin rice noodles
Silver needle noodles	銀針粉 老鼠粉	yín zhēn fěn lǎo shǔ fěn	ngàhn jām fán lóuh syú fán	ngiau chu hoon	-	-	Spindle-shaped rice flour noodles, ca. 5 cm in length and 3-5 mm in diameter

[edit] 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.

Common English name	Characters	Pinyin	Cantonese	Hokkien	Thai	Western equivalent	Description
Winter noodle	冬粉	dōngfěn	dung fun	dang hun	-	Thin mung bean vermicelli	Very thin mung bean starch noodles
Bean threads	粉絲	fěnsī	fun sze	-	Wun sen (วุ้นเส้น)	Mung bean vermicelli	Thin cellophane-like noodles
Mung bean sheets	粉皮	fěn pí	fan pei	-	-	-	Wide, clear noodles made from mung bean starch
Liang pi	凉皮	líang pí	-	-	-	-	Translucent noodles made from wheat starch left from producing gluten

[edit] Signature Chinese noodle dishes

• Ban mian
• Beef chow fun
• Cart noodle
• Char kway teow
• Zhajiang mian
• Laksa
• Lo mein
• Re gan mian

[edit] External links

• Cook's Thesaurus: Asian Noodles
• Chow mein recipe (with photo)

[edit] Video

• Making of Guizhou-style noodles
• Knife-cut noodle making in a Beijing hutong

[edit] See also

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

[edit] References