Summer Workshop 2017: Handmade Noodle
By Anselm Cheung
On 8 July 2017, we had a fun and rewarding afternoon making fresh vegetable noodles by hand with seasonal local farm produce including pumpkin and sweet potato. While learning about the local species of pumpkin and sweet potato, we took part in dough kneading to mix the flour and ingredients together, and getting the dough ready for cutting up noodles.
In an international city like Hong Kong, one can find noodles from all sorts of origin: Italian, Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian etc. Although most of the noodles we enjoy are made by machine, the practice of noodle making is not lost and forgotten. Rather, the ancient practice has allowed us to get intimate with the farm produce, even in a densely urbanized city like Hong Kong.
We invited Kong Yeah (港嘢), a group dedicated to supporting local agricultural produce and manufactured products, to introduce the local food production scene, and to teach us the technique of noodle making.
The style of noodle we made this time is similar to spaghetti or fettucine. Firstly, by mixing 100g of all-purpose flour with 50g of vegetables (pumpkin or sweet potato), the flour would slowly form into a dough, even without adding water. With continuous massaging, the dough would become consistent in texture. It was noted that the nominal portion of one serving of pasta is about 90g.
When the dough is consistent enough after about 20 minutes of kneading, it is recommended to rest the dough for at least 30 minutes. This process would make the noodle more chewy and easier to handle.
With the help of a pasta/noodle maker, the dough is firstly flattened. Afterwards, the dough is cut up into strands of beautiful noodles to our preference.
Handmaking noodle is a fun and useful technique to learn. The handmade noodle of this workshop is good and clean. Everything is made fresh and without any additives. The pasta is much chewy and rich in taste!
