Cubic Rice Noodles
Cubic noodles brought awe to Australian TV watching households after Masterchef Poh Ling Yeow thrilled judges with her intriguing black cubic noodles made using squid ink. Masterchef Poh served her winning dish with fried snapper, preserved mustard greens and caviar in a white stock.
Penang cubic noodles, known as char kuih kark (with many variations of spelling depending on Chinese dialect group), act as a poor man's version of the daikon rice cakes served in dim sum restaurants: hawkers stalls make the noodles without daikon.
Here is a recipe to make your own cubic noodles, for use in your noodle or pasta dishes:
Ingredients:
150 g (1 cup) rice flour
20 g (1-2 tablespoons) black glutinous rice, tapioca starch, wheat starch, or cornstarch
1 tablespoon oil (preferable flavoured)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder, optional
150 mL lukewarm water
350 mL boiling water
Method:
Blend the flour, starch, oil and seasoning with lukewarm water into a smooth paste.
While stirring add the boiling water to par-cook the batter to help prevent the flour settling during cooking. If the batter has not thickened enough to leave thick trails, either gently heat on a stove or microwave on high in 10 sec bursts until the consistency is achieved.
Pour the batter into a wet ceramic lasagne dish measuring 20 cm by 30 cm. The batter is enough for a 1-cm thick noodle sheet.
Steam for 30-45 minutes until set. On cooking, the batter darkens and the surface feels firm. To cook by microwave, cover the dish with plastic wrap. Set power to 30% (medium low) and cook for 20-30 minutes.
Let cool for at least 15 minutes to stiffen before using. Cut into 1 cm cubes. For frying, chill the noodles, preferably overnight.
... pan fried black and white cubic rice noodles with omelette, shitake, coriander and chilli
Notes:
The starch improves the texture by adding softness and/or chewiness. Rice on its own gives a somewhat starchy mouth feel. Adjust the ratio of rice to starch to suit your personal preference.
Some recipes call for kan sui (lye water) to add a springy texture, or borax to prevent stickiness, add gloss and improve flexibility. Others suggest 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon baking soda per cup of flour as a substitute for kan sui and borax.
The flour to water weight ratio is 1:3, or volume ratio 1:2 (1 cup flour to 2 cups water).
Simple recipe for sheet and cubic rice noodles 40% rice flour, 40% cornstarch, 20% tapioca starch, 300-350% FWB warm water. Make a slurry and steam.
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