Dumplings and Noodles by Pippa Middlehurst
Editor Keith Kendrick dusts o! his pasta machine to make noodles using this book by BBC One’s Best Home Cook winner 2018
During a recent clear-out of the back of my kitchen cupboards, I came across my old pasta machine. I’d used it for about a week before I could no longer move in the kitchen for strands of spaghetti hanging from drying racks. But now I’ve found another use for it, thanks to Pippa’s new book. The cancer research scientist fell in love with Chinese food after her granddad started taking her to a dim sum restaurant. This eventually led her to a cookery school in Lanzhou, China, where she learned to hand-pull noodles in the traditional way, using flour, water, salt and hours of manual Labour. Her videos on Instagram (@pippyeats) demonstrating her incredible technique are utterly mesmerising.
But is making your own noodles worth the effort, compared to buying dried ones from the supermarket? I dusted o" my pasta machine and set to work making egg noodles, a component of many popular Chinese takeaway Dishes. They were surprisingly easy and relaxing to make, not to mention simple to cook and delicious to eat. They’re used in several of Pippa’s recipes, including veggie lo mein, yakisoba, chilli crab noodles and Hong Kong wonton noodle soup.
I then became more adventurous, making trendy biang biang noodles by hand, a process involving stretching rolls of elastic dough to the span of your arms, then slapping it on the table. Messy at first, I soon got the hang of it and was rewarded with sensationally thick, chewy noodles that I dressed with fiery chilli, soy, vinegar and oil – definitely worth giving a go.