Wednesday 3 June 2020

La Mian ( Hand-Pulled Noodles)

What are hand-pulled noodles ? As the name suggested, hand-pulled noodles are formed by pulling wheat flour dough by hand into long elastic strips. Compared to hand-cut and machine-made noodles, they usually have a more silky, springy and chewy texture. They are always served fresh as pulling and cooking process happens at the same time.

Ingredients:
  • 250g plain flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 125ml water
  • cooking oil for coating the dough
Method:

Mix flour and salt. Add water gradually. Mix with chopsticks/spatula until no more loose flour can be seen. Combine and knead briefly into a dough. Covered and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes. Knead again for about 2-3 minutes until very smooth.

Divide the dough into two equal parts. With a rolling pin, flattened each piece into a rectangle shape, about ½cm thick


Thoroughly coat each piece with oil then place them on a tray. Cover with cling film then leave to rest for 1½ hours.

Bring a large pot of water to a full boil. While waiting, cut the dough. Place one piece of dough on a chopping board. Width-ways, cut into strips, about 1cm wide if making round thin noodles and about 3 cm wide if making flat,wide noodles.

Pick up a strip of dough by holding each end gently. Pull towards opposite directions. The movement should be smooth and consistence.

As your arms move apart, bounce the noodle against the worktop to help it stretch further. Fold the noodle and repeat the movement.

Drop the pulled noodle into boiling water. Repeat the procedure to pull other strips cut from the first piece of dough. Cook 1 minute for thin noodles or 2 minutes for wide noodles. Transfer the noodles to a serving bowl using a pair of chopsticks.


To avoid the noodles sticking to each other, serve immediately. If not serving straight away, you need to briefly rinse the noodles with cold water then add a few drops of sesame oil and stir well. Keep in the fridge up to 2 days. To reheat, bring a pot of water to a full boil. Add the noodles and cook for no more than 30 seconds

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