It's been well over a month since my last installment of Foodie Tuesdays, a series in which I try to highlight one somewhat obscure yet interesting food item and tell you something you might not know about it.
So here you go--Chinese noodles. I want to talk specifically about Chinese noodles not just because the Chinese invented them, but because I think they demonstrate an awesome diversity rarely found in other cuisines. It's like they can made noodles out of anything they can grind, mix with water, stretch and boil.
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1-2 My favorite noodles in the world, Uigher laghman (or hand-pulled noodles) originating in Xinjiang province
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3-5 Garry's favorite, knife-cut noodles (dou xiao mian, a northern China specialty), cut rapidly from a big lump of dough. Plus pan-fried jian mian or cut noodles.
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6-7 You mian, or oil noodles, a peculiar specialty of the Shaanxi province. Oil and flour formed into rings and steamed in honeycomb formation. To be pulled apart with chopsticks and dipped into spicy sauce. Chewy and delish!
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8 Cat ear noodles, another Shanxi specialty.
- 9 Suoman, another Xinjiang specialty, fried noodle squares in spicy sauce.
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10 Traditional Lanzhou-style lamian, or hand-pulled noodles from Gansu province.
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Mung bean based noodles. 11 Dried dongfen, or bean threads. 12 Fried bean threads in Korean japchae. 13 And wide, flat mung bean sheets.
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Rice noodle varieties: misua (14-15), or rice threads, 16 Fujianese bee hoon or fried thin rice vermicelli, 17 Cantonese maifun, 18 thicker rice vermicelli, 19 lai fun, 20 Cantonese beef chow fun, 21 rolled rice noodle sheets.
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22 Serik ash, a yellow Uigher noodle from Xinjiang that is made into rounds and cut into strips
- Egg noodle variations: 23 fresh egg noodles, 24 pan-fried, 25 deep fried crispy egg noodles
