When I was growing up, a family favorite celebratory dinner was home made fettucine with smoked salmon and my mom would let us kids make the noodles while she prepared the sauce. There is a meditative quality to hand-making noodles, first kneading the balls of dough by hand, then watchfully guiding the sheets of pasta through rollers ever more narrowly spaced, and finally-- almost in a blink of an eye-- slicing up your careful handiwork.

I finally went out and got my own pasta machine. My wife is wheat-intolerant so when I cook for us I often like to make safe versions of dishes ordinarily made with wheat products. In this case I made fettucine with spelt flour. The spelt dough is slightly stickier and a little less cohesive than a wheat dough so it's a little harder to work with, but otherwise it's a good substitute.

( home made spelt and egg noodles )

I made a light sauce out of cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, squid, white wine, and garlic.

( squid sauce )

( the finished product )

This recipe is a Chinese/Korean fusion: I wanted some Chinese shredded pork and preserved vegetable noodle soup but had no pork to stir fry for it, nor any Chinese preserved mustard greens.

What I did have was homemade Chinese chicken and pork stock, Chinese roast pork and kimchi.

The results were quite amazingly good--and my one year old daughter loved it.

Even if the kimchi was really hot, she kept begging for more broth. I think she liked the endorphine rush.

Anyway, photos, recipes and story are here.

And--if you don't want to make the stock, and the roast pork, and whatnot, you can make a pretty good imitation of this by using really good instant pork-chicken ramen noodles, some slivers of leftover meat or tofu, some greens, a bit of cucumber and some kimchi.

It is great for warding off colds, flu and stomach upsets.

This recipe is a Chinese/Korean fusion: I wanted some Chinese shredded pork and preserved vegetable noodle soup but had no pork to stir fry for it, nor any Chinese preserved mustard greens.

What I did have was homemade Chinese chicken and pork stock, Chinese roast pork and kimchi.

The results were quite amazingly good--and my one year old daughter loved it.

Even if the kimchi was really hot, she kept begging for more broth. I think she liked the endorphine rush.

Anyway, photos, recipe and story are here--enjoy.

(You can make a quickie version of this with good ramen instant noodles, some leftover meat or tofu bits, some greens and kimchi, too. It will still be good.)

Good Morning.  This is my first post.  I don't think this is the best picture in the world, but it sure was the best soup.  I prefer making all of my food from scratch.  I don't usually use mixes, but sometimes if it's just as good as homemade I will.  I like pretty plates.  I think food tastes better on a pretty plate.

Here was our meal last evening.  Chicken Noodle Soup with homemade egg noodles.  My family loves this soup. 

I have finally quit smoking after 15 years and will soon be able to taste my food.  This is partly a way for me to document what I've been missing.

It was also very cool here yesterday and my boys were all outside working on the fence.  They were all pleased to come in to this steamy creation.

I had to learn how to make this noodle shop classic for my husband. You see, there are no noodle shops in Athens, Ohio, where we live, so in order for us to have this, his favorite Chinese dish of all time, on a semi-regular basis, I needed to learn how to make it.

So, I did.

Once you have the roast pork made, and the soup broth made, it is easy. My advice is to make a lot of roast pork and freeze it and a lot of stock and freeze it, and then if you want this soup for supper, all you have to do is thaw some stuff out, slice some pork, blanch some greens and cook some noodles. That is all.

It is really easy, and the flavors are clear, simple and oh so comforting.

Recipe, including links to the Chinese soup stock and roast pork recipes, and lots of photos here.

Singapore Rice Noodles, though named such on many Chinese-American restaurant menus, didn't really come from Singapore. In fact, no one is really sure exactly which restaurant started making them, but the recipe itself is Cantonese in origin. But, even if it is named oddly, it is a very tasty dish of stir fried rice vermicelli flavored with garlic, ginger, and made bright yellow with curry powder.

Other ingredients include thin slices of onion, sweet and hot peppers, egg, bean sprouts, various other vegetables, and a mixture of meats that can include Chinese roast pork, shrimp, and chicken.

I make mine with roast pork and Chinese sausages, lop cheong.

Vegetarian versions can include pressed spiced tofu or smoked tofu, dried shiitake mushrooms, or wheat gluten. Vegan versions can leave out the egg.

This is a versatile recipe that makes a beautiful tangle of saffron-colored, highly flavored hair-thin rice noodles which are tender yet slightly chewy, dotted with beautiful jewel-like slivers of vegetables, meat and seafood.

It is great hot, but equally tasty cold as leftovers. (Yeah, leftovers would be great in a bento, now that I think about it, since it is so pretty in its own right....)

It is one of my favorite dishes from Chinese restaurants, but I like my homemade version even better--it is not as oily, and the flavors are fresher and deeper.

Recipe, stories and photos here.

 A couple of weeks ago when I posted a link to the recipe for Hunan Salted Chilies, I promised that when my batch was finished fermenting I would post some recipes using this salty, tangy, fiery condiment.

Well, as of Sunday night, it had been two weeks, so I had to haul off and make something with the chilies whose progress I had been eyeing (and sniffing) for fourteen long days.

So, I adapted another recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop's Hunan cookbook, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, and made a delicious rice noodle stir fry.

It was awesome--the chilies had been transformed by the fermentation process from an "in-your-face" heat to a more subtle "sneaks-up-on-you" bite, which permeated the dish while still allowing the fresh flavors of the chicken, garlic, ginger and vegetables to shine. It is going to become a permanent favorite for a quick meal at our house.

Here is the recipe with photos and commentary, as always.

Also, I posted a 101 on how to cook with rice noodles recently on my blog--if anyone is interested.

Last night, I made a tofu, pork and chard stir fry seasoned with the salted chilies. When I write about it in a couple of days, I will be sure and put a link here.

I used to eat this often at the Chinese restaurant where I worked many moons ago. When I left that job to go back to college, however, I was sad to find that there were very few restaurants which had the crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside pan fried noodle pancake on the menu.

This meant I had to learn to make it myself. And now that I have figured out how to get the texture of the noodles right (by steaming, then boiling, then frying) I pass the recipe on to you.

You can use any favorite stir fry recipe to make topping for it--just make sure there is lots of sauce to soak into the noodle pancake. This softens the crisp exterior slightly and flavors the chewy interior.

Recipe and photos for the pancake here.

The whys and wherefores of steaming fresh Chinese wheat noodles here. Steaming the noodles is a sort of trade secret for restaurants and noodle shops, which results in fresher tasting, firmer and more springy noodles, whether they are used in cold dishes, in soups or in stir fries.

These are a great way to beat the late summer heat. Traditionally made only from toasted sesame seed paste, in the US, they are often made with peanut butter either in addition to the sesame seed paste or instead of it. With fresh vegetable slivers and chopped cilantro leaves and slices of scallion tops, this dish makes a great appetizer for six to eight or a light main course for four.

This can be made with either fresh or dried Chinese wheat noodles, and is a great way to eat something good when it is too hot to eat.

Recipe with photos here.

Also, I wrote a general post on the different types of Chinese wheat noodles, and how they differ from Italian dried pasta, here. There are instructions on how to boil the noodles without overcooking them as well as links to recipes I have previously posted which use Chinese wheat noodles, including another cold noodle dish: Hunan Cold Spicy noodles.  These noodles are even lighter than the Cold Sesame Peanut Noodles, but are every bit as tasty and refreshing.

Stirfry noodles with summer squash and green beans (the boyfriend added chicken to his), covered with simple blue dragon stirfry prepacked sauce

I don't know what it is about summer, but I've suddenly become completely obsessed with cutting things into small pieces. So we've had this salad a number of times now. Once the prepwork's done, it's ready in a matter of minutes, and there's really no end to the variations - with chicken, different vegetables, different types of noodles... I'm just so in love with this dressing.



Recipe here.

If I made chicken soup that I wanted to serve with noodles in, could I freeze portions of it with the noodles already cooked in, or would you recommend freezing the soup sans noodles?

Same question, only regarding dumplings?

For that, have a picture of my tiffin! :D



Thank you for all your help!

My first foodpr0n post. Haven't quite got the knack of photographing food yet!

It's Worker's Day for us and a public holiday, so my mother decided to make curried noodles, with home-made fishballs. More pictures and accompanying story linked to the above picture. I didn't make it and my mother would probably kill me if I shared the family recipe, but here's a decent recipe for curried noodles. If you don't have candlenuts, they can be omitted. Ditto for the coconut milk (dessicated coconut or just milk can be used, sparingly, if desired. The taste won't be the same though. We've used just creamer on occasion when we're health conscious)

I do believe this is my first picture post here. If not, then let's just pretend and celebrate anyway. WOOOOOOO!!! Excuse my poor photography skills.

( Tempura chicken, noodles and broccoli )

Now I ask for your help. I've been craving for what my mom calls "Korean roast beef". She takes a large cut of beef and slices it pretty thin (think carpaccio). It's cooked quickly on high heat. We would dip it in a sauce that was pretty much sesame oil, salt and pepper.

She served it with a spicy scallion kimchee/relish kinda thing. The scallions were sliced thin, like little ribbons, made with what I will call Korean chili powder, for lack of better knowledge, and vinegar, I think. This is what I want a recipe for. I've asked her about it, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet...and her directions are usually vague, anyway.

I also asked her about this rice drink. She doesn't remember what I'm talking about. It was...a rice drink. It had a light, sweet flavor, like sweet tea but not, and there was actually rice at the bottom.

Every year I throw a Chinese New Year dinner for my friends. There's always too much food, but very little of it makes it to the ice box for leftovers. I've posted the recipes for most of these dishes before so I won't bore you again, but the recipe for the Shiny Chicken is a new doctored recipe I threw together.( Pics and Chicken Recipe )

Quite often I'll cook udon noodles in a miso soup, then strain them so it's just noodles. I find it adds a lovely flavour to the noodles, and I'll then use the noodles as a base for a meal.
However, being gluten-free at the moment, I can't eat my lovely udon noodles. I'm on rice noodles.
I've never really liked rice noodles; I love the soft thick just... well softness of udon noodles, and rice noodles are thin, brittle and pretty nasty I've always found.
But I'm stuck with them, so I'm trying to work things out.
Will they take up flavour like udon noodles do?
Will they soften up if I do them as a soup and then strain and use them as a base for something?
Or will they just be brittle nasty things?

And if anyone has any suggestions for rice noodles, please, go ahead. It needs to be gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, celery free and vegetarian!

Thanks!

x-posted

RIP, Momofuku Ando. Your invention fueled my college years and--let's be honest--still graces my bowls on a not-so-infrequent basis. And why not? 25 billion servings can't be wrong.

What's your favorite way to dress up ramen noodles? Me, I like to add a scrambled egg and broccoli. If I've got them, white and black sesame seeds on top and a little sesame oil. Mmmmm, mmmm.

hi friends. i stopped off at trader joe's tonight after work to pick up a few provisions because i'm starting to get sick and i doubt i'll want to do much cooking let alone shopping over the next couple days. tomorrow night i'm making lentil soup but that was already on the menu for the week.

anyway. the point of this post is....i bought a carton of soy ginger broth that i thought would be really good for my cold. i also have a 10 oz package of chinese noodles in the cupboard leftover from when i made seasame noodles the the other day. i have some veggies in the fridge i could use up...some scallions and other various vegetables. any ideas of what i can make with this?