Ah, the noodle! Perhaps no other culture around the globe features more noodle types and noodle-based dishes than does the milieu of Asia’s Pacific Rim, where many countries feature noodle dishes as key parts of national cuisines. In the words of Rainbow, the GM at Asian Paradise, “we have tons of noodles in China, all kinds of noodles, and all over that part of the world like Japan and Thailand and places like that. We (Asian Paradise) have the udon noodle; it’s a Japanese wheat noodle, kinda chewy and thicker — like spaghetti, but thicker.”
An udon noodle dish with vegetables and chicken
In fact, much thicker, probably three times as thick as a strand of standard pasta found in Italian spaghetti dishes. We at Dining Out tried an udon noodle entrée with a tasty brown sauce, and it was a winner. More on that dish in a moment. First, though, those noodles. The heart of the dish we enjoyed is the noodle portion, and udon is a noodle unlike any other, at least in my experience. The texture and chew of the noodle is different in that it features an elastic quality and is spongy when compressed. Rainbow described the noodle as “kinda chewy,” and that fits to a degree, since udon noodles are denser, closer to Germanic/French spätzle than Italian spaghetti. But they are not rubbery or overly springy as, say, gummy bears or Jello™ would be. And my sense is that these noodles, especially when stir-fried, absorb the flavor of the sauce in which they are prepared.
Udon is made from wheat flour as is Italian pasta and many other noodles from cultures the world over. Danilo Alfaro, writing in The Spruce Eats (3-20-24), claims that wheat is more widely used in noodle-making than any other grain. That coincides with research we’ve done at Dining Out. Such noodles generally are made of simple ingredients, including eggs, flour, salt, and sometimes water. He describes the process used to make udon noodles as “pulling and stretching” rather than rolling. He identifies rolling as the technique used in making spaghetti. This difference in technique is what gives the udon noodle its elastic quality, not rubbery, mind you, but truly different from typical pasta noodles.
Our entrée featured a mix of vegetables and chicken, as protein. First, Rainbow stated, the dry noodles are boiled in water to regain pliability. They are removed from the water and added to a stir-fry of vegetables that includes broccoli, carrots, snow peas, colorful bell peppers, zucchini, and scallions. The dish is in a make-your-own section of the menu and can be vegetarian if desired, and protein can be other than chicken if desired. We added chicken to ours, and it made for a good, substantial meal with an excellent mix of protein, carbs, and veggies. Delicious!
Basil beef, a rich, tasty stir-fry
While our dish featured udon noodles boiled then stir-fried, typical Japanese udon meals would be soup-based noodle bowls with no stir-fry involved. But Rainbow said that in her culture, noodles are adaptable and can be used in different ways, depending on who is at the wok.
Other wheat noodles are ones used in lo mein and chow mein dishes. These noodles are spaghetti-like in shape and consistency and are popular throughout Southeast Asia and China. Lo mein dishes generally feature soft noodles, while chow mein dishes feature noodles that are crispier. Ramen noodles are Japanese, and also are a flour and egg composition. Ramen noodles are specially treated in the preparation stage with ingredients that cause them to take on the curlicue shape for which Ramen bowls are known.
Two other noodles that are widely used in Asia and its Southeast are rice noodles and glass noodles. Rice noodles are made from starch derived from rice. The noodles are available in many shapes, and often mimic the shape of Italian linguine. One dish that is almost always made with rice noodles of that shape is pad Thai, where the thick noodles absorb the sauce and make for a tasty dish, regardless the protein. Thinner versions of rice noodles are used in all sorts of dishes, but especially in Vietnamese cuisine. And rice starch also is used in making rice paper, the wrapper for fresh Vietnamese spring rolls. Glass noodles, also referred to as cellophane noodles, can be nearly transparent when cooked. These noodles are made from the starch residue of sweet potatoes and other starchy tubers. Often, they are rehydrated and then used in stir-fry recipes. Glass noodles also can be deep-fried and served crunchy.
See you at Asian Paradise!
