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Although rice is thought to be the staple carbohydrate of Chinese cuisine, noodles are often served as well, whether Cantonese or Mandarin, Hunan or Szechuan. In fact noodles have formed a part of Chinese cookery since at least two thousand years ago when the Han Dynasty ruled China.

Both the Arabs and the Italians claim to have invented the noodle but an archaeological find at Lajia in Qinghai of four thousand year old noodles, seems to prove conclusively that it was indeed the Chinese who discovered them.

There are two different types of Chinese noodles; those made from wheat flour and those made from rice flour. Wheat flour noodles are usually used in northern Chinese cuisine, whereas rice flour noodles generally are found in the south. Although these days, the differences in regional cuisines are not so pronounced, the north of Chine used to be a major wheat grower.

A third type of noodle is actually available but far less common and it is made from mung bean starch.

Like Italian pasta, Chinese wheat flour noodles can be made with or without eggs and can be any shape or size; fat, thin, long or short. The major difference is that Chinese noodles usually cook in around half the time of Italian pasta.

If the more common wheat flour noodles contain eggs, this can easily be told by their yellowish colour. Rice flour noodles are whitish in colour, almost opaque and are usually either vermicelli (very thin) or thick and flat, which are known as Hefen rice noodles.

Wheat flour noodles are used in a dish called mein. Chow Mein is familiar to most westerners and for this dish, the noodles are stir fried. The less familiar dish is Lo Mein for which the noodles are boiled then flavoured with sugar, soy sauce and seasonings. Thus Chow Mein is crispy and Lo Mein is soft.

A popular Cantonese recipe which used rice flour noodles is for a dish called Beef Chow Fun, which can be found in most Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. This is stir fried beef, bean sprouts and Hefen rice noodles

The noodles made from mung bean starch are known as cellophane noodles or glass noodles. These are a nearly transparent thin vermicelli which look somewhat like worms and thus aren’t terribly popular with Westerners. However, served with a hot sauce of chilli and soy, they go down a storm with the Chinese.

No matter which type of Chinese noodles you choose, they can be made into a dish to please any palate.

Liz Canham
As well as a love of Asian Food and Cookery, Liz seeks to help newcomers to the world of internet marketing with tools, tips and training from her Liz-e-Biz.com website.

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