Homemade Alkaline Noodles/Ramen Noodles (碱水面)
Loved for its bouncy, slippery texture and appetising colour, alkaline noodles, aka ramen noodles, can be easily made at home and served in many delicious ways.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 210 g water at room temperature
- 1½ teaspoon lye water (Kansui) see note 1 for substitute
- Cornstarch for dusting
Instructions
Make the dough
- Add flour and salt to a mixing bowl. Mix water with lye water then pour into the flour gradually. Stir the flour constantly with chopsticks to evenly distribute the liquid.
- Use your hand to bring the lumps together to form a rough-looking dough. As this dough is on the dry side, this process may take some time to finish. You don’t need to make it smooth. It’s fine as long as everything is combined into one piece.
Rest the dough
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap/cling film or a damp cloth. Leave to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Knead the dough for 1-2 mins to make it smoother (Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly smooth). Then divide into four portions.
Roll the dough sheet
- Use your hands or a rolling pin to flatten one piece of dough (cover the rest to prevent drying) until it’s thin enough to go through your pasta maker on the widest setting.
- Feed it through the machine. Then fold the dough lengthway and repeat the procedure another couple of times.
- Reduce the thickness setting. Pass the dough through twice. Then repeat the process while reducing the setting one number up at a time until the dough reaches the desired thickness. My pasta maker has settings from 0 to 9, I usually stop at No. 3 (2.4mm) or No. 4 (1.8mm).
Cut the noodles
- Dust the dough sheet with a thin layer of corn starch (or other types of starch) to prevent the noodle strands from sticking.
- Pass the dough sheet through a cutting attachment (I use a spaghetti cutter) to produce noodles. At about halfway through the process, use your hand to catch the noodles.
Cook the noodles
- Bring a large pot of water to a full boil. Add the noodles. Once the water comes back to boil, cook for a further 1-2 mins. Taste one strand to check the doneness (Do not overcook).
- Rinse the noodles under running water for a few seconds then drain well. Serve with a sauce, toppings or in a soup (if serving as a cold dish, rinse until cooled).
Store the noodles
- Place uncooked noodles in sealed bags/containers. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for 3 months.
- Cook the usual way. No need to defrost if frozen.
Video
Notes
1. If you can’t find ready-to-use, bottled lye water, make it yourself with baking soda. The detailed recipe can be found in my post on “Lye water and its homemade substitute”.
2. Please feel free to slightly reduce the volume of lye water based on your own preference. But be careful not to increase the quantity as this would cause an unpleasant bitter taste.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 455kcal
