The first two postings have touched upon the vegetables and meat, completing only two sections on the nutrition pyramid. What is the most common form of carbohydrate in the Chinese food culture then? Rice, of course! In fact, noodles are just as common as rice in the Chinese culture, if not any more. Noodle dishes are found in daily meals for the locals in Northern China. But they are also popular around other parts of the country, from East to West, in Southern as well as Middle China.
When people talk about noodles, Chinese food is probably not the first image that pops to their mind – Italian spaghetti, Japanese Ramen are way more well-known in the world of noodle cuisines. Thus it is not surprising at all when more than one country had claimed to be the inventor of noodles. China, however, has the first written account of noodle in world history, which can be dated between 25 AD and 220 AD in the East Han dynasty. The oldest noodle was also found in China, in an archaeological site what was built at least 4,000 years ago.
Because of its long history in the Chinese food culture, noodles had developed into a large variety of forms. The most common ingredients for noodle dough in China include wheat (called 麵, miàn), rice (called 粉, fěn), and mung bean. Sometimes egg or lye is also added into the wheat noodles for flavor. Similar to pasta, Chinese noodles also come in different shapes – long and short, wide and thin, flat and round, as well as in different colors such as yellow, white, and clear.
Similar to noodle dishes in other cultures, there is no way that one can finish talking about how Chinese people prepare their noodles in one posting. Chinese noodle dishes can be served hot or cold, dry or wet (in soup), as well as soft or crunchy. In YOUnique Café, we are proudly providing you noodle dishes prepared in all these different ways.
YOUnique Recommendations: Wonton Noodle Soup, Rice Noodle Rolls, and Fried Rice Noodle with Sliced Beef & Soya Sauce (a.k.a. Beef Chow Fun).
Resource:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1012_051012_chinese_noodles.html
