Asian noodles

Why

Rice noodles and glass noodles made from mung bean starch have no gluten and are held together only by gelatinised and re-set starch, whereas wheat noodles such as udon, ramen, somen or egg noodles are held together by gluten. For the wok, dried rice noodles are therefore usually just soaked in hot water until pliable but still firm inside, and they finish cooking in the sauce; cooked soft in advance, they break and clump in the wok. When wheat noodles and soba boil, starch is released from their surface and glues them together once drained, so noodles for cold dishes and soba are rinsed in cold water after cooking: the starch washes off and the cooking stops. Italian pasta, by contrast, is not rinsed, because the sauce clings to its starch (Cooking pasta card); with Asian noodles the goal is more often separate strands and a firm bite. Noodles for soup are usually cooked separately, because their starch clouds the broth and noodles left in soup keep absorbing liquid and go soft.

How to do it

• Cover dried rice noodles with hot water and let them soften until they bend but are still firm inside; wide noodles need longer than thin ones.
• Add rice noodles to the wok only pliable and let them finish in the sauce; for soup you can simmer them until fully soft.
• Cook wheat noodles and soba in a large pot of boiling water as the packet says; udon and somen are often salted in the dough, so salt the water lightly or not at all.
• After draining, rinse noodles for cold dishes and soba under cold water and rub them with your hands to wash off the surface starch; then drain well.
• Toss noodles waiting for the wok with a teaspoon of oil and turn them in the wok with tongs or a wide spatula, not a wooden spoon.
• Cook noodles for soup separately, pour the hot broth over them in the bowl and store leftovers apart from the soup.

If it goes wrong

Loosen a clumped block of noodles under hot running water or by dipping it briefly in boiling water, drain and toss with a little oil. Rice noodles that break in the wok were soaked or cooked too long; turn them gently with tongs and soak them for less time next time. Noodles gone soft in soup will not firm up again; next time store the soup without noodles and cook fresh ones to go with it.