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.
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.
Hello!
Can you store In the fridge or should it be in the freezer?
Packaged in air-tight container and then keep in freezer.
Hello from India.
Thank you so much for sharing the authentic chinese recipes. In Indian restaurants, we get chinese dishes that are totally different from the authentic chineses food. We call it indo-chinese food (chinese food with Indian twist😜). 😂 But we love it.
Can I use whole wheat flour to make these noodles? Can these noodles be dried and stored for few months?
You can mix in some wheat flour, for example half wheat flour and half all purpose. 100% wheat flour cannot make chewy egg noodles.
The fresh noodles can be kept in a air-tight container and freeze up for 1 week.
Hi Elaine,
Would you recommend egg noodles for Dan Dan Mian, or would you rather use wheat noodles?
I use common wheat noodles for dan dan noodles mostly.
I’m making lo mein with these noodles, do I need to boil them first or just stir fry them? Also, do you have a recipe for a good lo mein?
I will introduce Lo mein soon. If you want to use egg noodles, pre-cook them for sure.
Best noodles!! I made these earlier in the week and my husband requested them for our Sunday meal as well. Very easy to understand the instruction. Thank you!!
Thank you, Shannon for the feedback. You can match the noodles with different types of sauces now.
I’m a preschool teacher and my 3/4 year olds and I made this recipe. The kids all pitched in to help and the noodles turned out great!
This a lovely family activity. I usually make homemade noodles with my daughter. She can master the process now at the age of 6.