Handmade healthy Chinese egg noodles, can be used for lo mein noodles, chow mein noodles and soups.
Noodles, as one of the staple food in Chinese cuisine along with Chinese breads (buns) and rice, have lots of variations and types. Sometimes, it is quite time consuming when searching for the right type of noodles for your recipe in Chinese supermarket. There are so many choices. For example, in western China, like Sichuan cuisine and Hunan cuisine, people love to add alkali in noodle dough to make them stretch and chew enough. Dan Dan noodles, Wuhan hot noodles and Sichuan cold sesame noodles all call for alkali noodles either fresh ones or dried ones. Miles away, in Southern China and Hong Kong area, egg usually is added to make chewy and not time sensitive noodles. They are mostly used in lo mein noodles and chow mein noodles. And for real Lanzhou hand pulled noodles, ash of Halogeton arachnoideus is added. But Lanzhou hand pulled noodles are really far away from daily kitchen. It is too difficult to master the skills.
This handmade egg noodle is quite simply and without any wired ingredients. But following are some tips to make the perfect egg noodles.
- The ratio between egg and water is adjustable. More egg liquid creates chewier taste. More water creates softer texture. So for lo mein noodles and chow mein noodles, I recommend using two middle size eggs. I tried three eggs previously but figure that that the egg taste is overwhelmingly strong for me. So my best ratio is 2 larger size eggs+20ml water. If you plan to make noodle soup, you can use one egg+100ml water for 2 cups of flour.
- The eggs noodles should be cooked after made or if you love to store them, dust with cornstarch and keep in freezer with sealed bag up to 1 week. Boil them directly next time.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 middle sized egg , whisked
- pinch of salt
- 50-60 ml water
- flour or cornstarch for dusting and coating
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In a bowl, mix salt with flour and then stir in egg and water slowly. Keep stirring until all the liquid is almost absorbed.
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Grasp everything with hand and knead to smooth dough. It is ok to have some dry flour in the bottom at the beginning, as we need to control the water content to make sure our noodles are chewy enough.
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When the dough is well kneaded, cover with plastic wrapper and rest for 30 minutes, so the gluten is well relaxed and you can further pat the noodle dough.
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Use a rolling pin to pat, press and flat the dough for several minutes (5-6) and then shape the dough to a ball, cover with plastic wrapper and rest for another 30 minutes.
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Cut the dough in half; roll one half into a larger and thin wrapper (I show the degree in the video).
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Fold the wrapper up (three or flour layers) and then cut into thin and even strips with a very sharp knife. When cutting the noodles, hold the knife vertically and push the newly cut strip with the knife to make sure it is completed with the dough wrapper. Dust with flour and loose the strips and if necessary, you can slightly stretch the strips slightly. Shake off extra flour when finished.
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Repeat to finish the other half. Cook immediately or cover with plastic wrapper and freeze for later recipes.
Recipe Video
The Nutrition Facts is based on each 100g noodles.
Hi,
Was unable to find a general email address to the site administrator so I just chose something that should get back to the head cook!
Great information, written for even those who are members of the dull normal home cooks of Chinese foods .
I thank you for your explications and explanations of the finer points of Chinese foods..
Nice to learn about dry pot cookery!
Looking forward to more!
-p-
Thanks Peter for all of your kind words. I will bring more yummy recipes as promised. As for dry pot, I have posted several recipe already. Check this one https://chinasichuanfood.com/chinese-dry-potshrimp/
Your recipies are great, tasty and fun to make.
Thanks Kevin!
Awesome recipe!!!
By chance, do you have any ramen recipe?????
JT
Hi Jessica,
I do not have ramen recipe on blog but there are excellent recipes around. Happy cooking ahead.
How do you cook the noodles? Do you boil them or pan fry them in oil? And for how long?
The noodles can be pan-fried or boiled to make a noodle soup. I have a pan-fried recipe with beef https://chinasichuanfood.com/beef-chow-mein/
I made these noodles. They were delicious and very chewy. They held up well to stir frying and sauces.
Does this method work well when making the noodles thicker?
Hi Zeb,
You can make the noodles wider but I do not recommend making them too thick.
Hi Elaine,
I love your recipe and awesome detail instruction very much.
Thank you so much for your sharing.
Best regards,
Tom.
Hi Tom,
You are the most welcome.
Hello,
The recipe is pretty much identical to some home made pasta recipes. Can I use my pasta maker or is it in the technique.
Additionally I can not find fresh egg noodles in any markets around my home. Can I buy fresh pasta and fry to use in chow mein if I do not have time to make my own
thanks
Al
Yes,
You can use pasta maker to make egg noodles. Fresh pasta should work find with all chow mein recipes.
Hello, it truly is a great recipe, so keep doing what your doing, you’re really good at it 🙂
But i believe that there’s a small misprint in your recipe “The EGGS should be cooked after made or if you love to store them, dust with cornstarch and keep in freezer with sealed bag up to 1 week. Boil them directly next time.”
I think you meant noodles instead of eggs there 😉
I wish you the best of luck in everything that you do and greetings from Estonia! 🙂
Thanks Sirle for the correctness. Yes, I mean the noodles. Happy cooking!
Hi i just wanted to know if we had to boil these before making chowmein? If so for how long?
Yes, pre-cook the noodles previously, around 2-3 minutes.
Hi Elaine,
Thanks a lot for this homemade noodle recipe.
I tried it and they turned out just like the video but on boiling them, they got quite sticky.
Any way to avoid this?
Thanks.
What kind of flour used for your noodles? Next time, add a small pinch of salt in the water before cooking the noodles.
Would this recipe qork well with a gluten free flour??? As i am not a big fan of the rice flour noodles you can buy ty xx
No, gluten free flour is not an ideal type for noodles.
would this work with bread flour? i have tried a biang biang noodle recipe with bread flour and it turned out good. would it work with this recipe? or should i stick to normal all purpose flour?
Hi Jessica,
You can use bread flour but the dough with bread flour is slightly over strong so the noodles is not easy to stretch. But bread flour is 100% workable for this recipe.
Hi Elaine,
You mentioned using alkaline to make the noodles. Can I use a pinch of baking soda to accomplish this?
I can’t find anywhere the alkaline you mention. Or is there another substitute that I could use?
TY 🙂
Hi Nichole,
If you want to use baking soda for your homemade alkaline noodles , firstly bake baking soda on a lined baking tray at 120 degree C for around 1 hour to turn it into stronger alkali. Do not touch it during the process to prevent skin irritation. Then dissolve it with water for the dough. Recommended 2.5g baked baking soda for 500g flour.
umm…..alll these comments and reply make my fucking laugh sorry
hi,
btw it is good but their is 1 thing wrong
YOU NEED TO MAKE MORE!
lol i shout to much god i got a head…..bye
This recipe was very helpful
Thank you for sharing
I also used it for dumplings worked nicely
Brandon,
Thanks for your feedback. Happy cooking and enjoy warm dishes in winter.