October 19, 2016

Homemade Silver Pin Noodles 自製銀針粉

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Lovely, slippery, chewy, homemade, hand rolled traditional Chinese noodles!  Easy to make, these traditional Homemade Silver Pin Noodles 自製銀針粉 will have you feeling like you've time traveled to a past when folks gathered around the table, rolling the dinner noodles deftly with a clever quick hands, all the while chatting and gossiping of this and that.  

Really, while it's actually quite easy to make these noodles, you might want to make sure you have a few friends or kids to help you out, make it a noodle rolling party!

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Wheat Starch
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Tapioca Starch

The Silver Pin Noodles 銀針粉 , also known as Rat Tail Noodles 老鼠粉 (umm...?) and Short Rice Noodles 米篩目, are made from a mixture of rice flour 米粉 (not glutinous rice flour, mind you), wheat starch 澄粉 (also known as tang flour) and tapioca starch.  

The ratio of the rice flour to the wheat starch can be adjusted as per your preference, with a higher ratio of rice flour making a noodle that is whiter, more opaque and less chewy.  A higher ratio of wheat starch to rice flour will make a noodle that is more transparent, more chewy and softer.  We found that somewhere in between produced the best results.

The rice flour and tapioca starch we purchased at the asian grocery store.  The wheat starch was a bit harder to find, we finally located it at the noodle vender shop at the local wet market, or you can find wheat starch here.

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To make these noodles is simplicity in itself.  Just add boiling water to your flour/starch mixture.

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Then mix, mix, mix it up with your handy pair of chopsticks.  You might think that it's too wet but hold off from adding more flour for a while as the dough settles as it cools.  When cool enough to handle, knead into a smooth dough on a lightly flour dusted surface.  Again, it may be sticky, but hold off from adding flour.  I found that when the dough completely cooled it was no longer sticky and the original water amount was just right.

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Roll out the dough into long rolls with your hands.  Then cut into portions in preparation for hand rolling.  We cut the portions too big the first time and the noodles came out a wee bit long.  I think that around 2" is the traditional length for the silver pin noodles.


The rolling of the noodle part was surprising easy.  The video above shows my little girl rolling the noodle in her hands.  You can see that it only takes a few moments to roll the noodle.  Easy peasy!

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As we started rolled the Silver Pin Noodles, I quickly realized that the distinctive shape of these noodles is simply a result of the shape of your hand as a noodle roller.  The bulge in the middle follows the hollow of your palm,  The two tapered end points correspond to the where the sides of your palm touch when holding your palms together.  

The noodle simply follows the shape of your palm, rather like the Italian orecchiette pasta where the pasta shape is made with a quick press and flick of a thumb, thus following the shape of the thumb.

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Before cooking

So the hand rolling is easy, but there are a lot of noodles to be rolled!!  So that's why it's a good idea to plan an old fashioned noodle making party, complete with inducements such as refreshments and stories, so as to get an unnoticed assembly line going and the noodles made lickety split.  

Or at least press gang your kids and family into helping out.  Kids will love helping out as it's easy enough to make the noodles that they can do it all by themselves. 

Best of all, after all the hard work, your industrious noodle makers will have their just rewards, as you will naturally prepare for each of them a yummilicious bowl of Silver Pin Soup Noodles with Roasted Duck and Mushrooms 火鴨冬菇銀針粉 with the very silver pin noodles that they rolled by hand!

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After cooking
Homemade Silver Pin Noodles Recipe
自製銀針粉

(makes 4 bowls)  Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 5 mins

Ingredients:


Directions:

Mix all ingredients together except the water in a large mixing bowl.  Add in boiling water and stir until the water is all mixed in and the texture is crumbly.  Wait until cool enough to handle, sprinkle working surface with flour and knead into a soft pliable dough.

Separate into 9 equal parts and with your palms roll each part into 1/2" thick rolls, then cut into 1/4" slices.  This portion of dough, when hand rolled, will make a noodle about 2" long.  If you want longer noodles adjust the thickness of the slices.

Place one piece of dough in the palm of your hands and roll into a 2" length noodle, letting the middle of the dough plump up and the ends to taper.  Place rolled noodles into a tray that has been dusted with flour.  

When all noodles are made, heat a pot of water, adding 1 tsp of oil.  When the water is boiling add in the noodles.  When the noodles float back to the surface remove and rinse immediately in cold water and then drain thoroughly.  Your noodles are now ready cooking in whatever wonderful noodle dish you have planned!

If not using right away, carefully stir in a tiny bit of oil to prevent noodles from sticking together and store airtight in the refrigerator for up to a week.  Enjoy!

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17 comments:

  1. Hello Hong Kong Cookery, wonder what substitutes there are for the wheat starch for those with an allergy to wheat..any ideas?

    Thank you!

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  2. I think you might try potato starch as a substitute for the wheat starch. If you do try it let me know how it works out! ~ellen

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  3. ahhhh thank you thank you...I cannot find Wheat Starch and I have made these noodles before. I found your recipe that has rice flour in it and I am trying it but I am replacing the missing Wheat starch with corn starch until I find the other. I tried it with steamed rice noodle lately and they were as good as the other times I made them...thanks for the recipe.

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  4. Thank you thank you...I have made silver pin noodles before but not for awhile and I cannot find the Wheat starch but I made steam rice funn noodles which we all love at dim sum. They turned out great with shrimp filling... so I know I can make them with that combination. Now I am trying your recipe because everyone here loves silver pin noodles. Originally got it from my Dim Sum Appetizer book...but yours here matches the one of my steam rice noodles.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Melo Gardener - You're very welcome and let us know if the corn starch substitution turns out. You just made me want to make steam rice noodles right away! ~ellen

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  5. Can you use glutinous rice flour?? Im just curious as to why you cant.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kc - Nope, don't use glutinous flour. It's another creature altogether and forms a sticky, very chewy dough such as that used for tang yuan, or sweet rice dumplings. I think that if you made these noodles with glutinous rice flour it would just end up sticking the heck together! ~ellen

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  6. I half the recipe by weighting half the flours and half the water but it didn't work as it seem to be too much water. How should I adjust the water the next time if I don't want to make so much all at once? Can I freeze them if I cannot eat them so much in 2 days?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Faye - Sometimes humidity affects flour and it needs less water, so next time add 3/4 of water, stir, then add more water 1 tbsp at a time until crumbly texture achieved. You don't need to add all the water, just need to achieve the right hydration for the dough.

      The noodles will keep in fridge for a week, remember to oil them a bit before storing. Sorry don't know about freezing, have never tried. ~ellen

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  7. I made this today and substituted the wheat starch with corn starch at 1:1 ratio, which turned out perfectly. Stir fried it and it was just delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

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    Replies
    1. Cool, thanks for letting us know your results with the corn starch substitution! ~ellen

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  8. Crud! I purchased Tapioca Flour not Tapioca starch. Can I use Tapioca Flour?

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  9. Yes, tapioca flour same thing as tapioca starch. ~ellen

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  10. The BEST recipe for pin noodles! This is the only recipe with the right ratios and ingredients, all the other ones online are rubbish (I’ve tried them all). Will be making this again over and over as my local asian supermarkets don’t sell these pre-packaged!!

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  11. Can the silver pin noodles be steamed instead of boiled?

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  12. I haven't tried steaming but my guess is that it probably won't work because the noodles would be touching when steamed and would end up sticking to one another. When boiling the water separates the noodles.

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