Well, the lockdown meant not finding things like noodles because speciality stores were either closed or out of stock from certain ingredients. What do you do when that happens? Make noodles at home of course yaaa.
So I came across a lot of recipes online and finally planned on making one of them. It turned out brilliantly and there was no going back from there.
Rice noodles are originally very chewy and that's exactly how I like them. This recipe uses Rice flour and Tapioca starch which is very very difficult to find here in India, but I found a store that had it and stocked up on it.
In case you also can't find it anywhere, don't worry, just grind some good old sabudana into a fine powder and use that instead. If you absolutely have to, use cornflour instead!
If you are overly unlucky, you might not even find rice flour anywhere, then what will you do?
I have a remedy for that as well :
Soak rice for 4 hours. Wash it till the water runs clear.
Now dry the soaked rice on a cloth under a fan.
Once the rice has dried, grind it into a powder and sift it.
Keep the powder in an open pan under the fan stirring every 1 hour or so. This will get rid of the excess moisture.
The tapioca starch is what makes these noodles very chewy, otherwise, the noodles would be so soft that they would break in the pan while stir-frying.
For the noodle batter:
1 cup of rice flour
1/2 cup of tapioca flour/ corn starch
1 1/2 cup of water
Salt to taste
Oil as required.
You will need an idli pot or a steamer of some sort to make it.
Method:
Switch on the gas and place your idli pot with a little bit of water in it.
In a bowl add rice flour, tapioca starch and salt. add 1 cup water and form a paste that's lump-free.
Add the rest of the water (1/2 cup) and mix till you get a crepe-like consistency.
Oil 2 plates with very little oil.
Add a ladle full of batter on to the plate and place it in the steamer. Close the lid and steam it for 2-3 mins.
You will know that it's done when the noodle looks completely matte.
oil the surface of the noodles and let it cool.
Till then add the next plate to steam.
Once the noodle has cooled, remove it by peeling it from one of the ends by using an angled palette knife.
Set aside. Stach all noodles on top of each other.
Slice the noodles sheets into thick noodles and separate once ready.
Use them immediately or store them in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Let me know how they turn out for you once you try to make them.
The picture is taken from the internet