Pumpkin Noodles
南瓜面
English: Pumpkin Noodles
Chinese: 南瓜面
Pinyin: nan gua mian
Literal: Pumpkin Noodles
Before I moved to China, I heard about a land where there were so many types of noodles: hand-torn, knife-cut, buckwheat, oat, potato, rice, green noodles, and even orange noodles made of pumpkin. There were restaurants dedicated to nothing but one noodle dish, and others that made their own hand-thrown noodles. This was the North of China. When I moved to Beijing, I knew I was in the right place - these Northern cities were obsessed with wheat, not rice, just like me.
People take noodles very seriously in the North of China: queuing for hours in searing heat or blistering cold for the best bowls in the city. Xi’an is the culinary heart of the North. The ancient capital city of China, Xi’an’s cuisine feels unchanged for thousands of years. It’s big hearty dishes would sustain soldiers and warriors before battle: noodles in thick meat sauces, doughy buns stuffed with pork, dumplings, naan breads soaked in lamb soup. This recipe was inspired by my last visit there. I’d seen a few restaurants playing around with their flour doughs, adding in the pumpkin puree to give a lovely orange colour and subtle sweetness to any dish.
There are many types of pumpkin in China, the tiny ones tend to be drier, the larger ones soft and slushy when roasted, but it’s these bigger ones are good for this dish as we want a smooth puree.
Serves 4
Ingredients
250g Pumpkin puree
500g high-gluten flour
2g salt
1 egg
Method
Peel and cut the pumpkin into chunks and then steam for ten minutes until very soft. A firm squash will not do here, you want a pumpkin that loses it’s shape after cooking.
Mash the pumpkin and stir until a puree.
Add the flour and salt and mix together. The dough is quite dry so use a KitchenAid or similar to knead it until it comes together. Kneading this one by hand takes a long long time, so I don’t recommend it.
Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it’s as thin as you can get (about a 2mm is good).
Lift up the side of the dough nearest you and then drop the dough on top of itself, letting it fold, each side falling back and forth like you’re writing a ’S’ over and over. (See the picture below)
Cut the folded dough across with a sharp knife, 2-3mm apart to form the noodles.
Once cut, sprinkle flour over the noodles to prevent sticking.
If using straight away, boil up a pot of salted water and boil for 3 minutes. Add a small handful per person to the water, then remove, drain and add any sauce you like.
If you’re not using immediately, divide up the portions for later. You can keep them in the fridge for about 3 days, or freeze them.
