Fresh Rice Sheets and Noodles

lynnski / LA's Note:

This is a handy recipe for making rice sheets and noodles, especially the ones that are not readily available, such as the wide rice noodles. The recipe is easy, but I suggest that first you watch a video such as, www.ifoodtv/video/making rice noodles. One video is worth a thousand words. This recipe comes from one of my most treasured books: "Asian Pasta" by Linda Burum, 1985. Linda claims that she can make a batch of rice noodles in much less time than it takes to go to the store, and that the homemade noodles are far superior.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 3.0 pounds ...

• 1 ¼ cups rice flour
• 6 tablespoons tapioca starch (available at Asian markets)
• 5 tablespoons wheat starch (not wheat flour, but available at Asian markets)
• 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
• 2 1⁄3; cups water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus more oil for the pans)

Directions:

1. Combine the rice flour, tapioca starch, wheat starch, salt and water; stir until smooth; then strain the batter through a fine strainer and stir in the oil; let the batter sit for 30 minutes.
2. Have ready an oiled baking sheet; then oil two 8-inch square pans or two 9-inch square pans; then place an 8-inch round cake rack in a wok and add water to just below the rack; boil the water and have a kettle of hot water available to replenish the water in the wok.
3. Stir the batter very well and add 5 to 6 tablespoons to one pan, allowing the batter to cover the bottom of the pan; set the pan on the cake rack, cover the wok, and steam over high heat for 5 minutes; then remove the wok top without allowing condensed water to drip on the rice sheets; remove the baking pan and cool in a sink filled with 1/2 -inch cold water; meanwhile, fill and steam the other pan; loosen the cooled rice sheet and roll it out onto the oiled baking sheet; turn the rice sheet so both sides are lightly oiled, then transfer to a platter; repeat the cooking, cooling, and oiling with the remaining batter.
4. Cover the rice sheets with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours before cutting the sheets into one-inch wide strips, or other shapes called for in the recipe.
5. Makes about 3 pounds of noodles.;.

Reviews

[GFJane]

I can't rate it because I couldn't make it as is. I needed to make gluten-free version, so I had to alter the recipe. I used Expandex instead of the wheat starch, thinking that the extra stickiness of the Expandex would work well. We thought these were OK, but not as good as we wanted. They are very soft and not at all toothsome - we didn't try to cook with them yet but I am worried they will very easily break apart. Not sure I would change, though, but will try a slightly different version next time. I also tried a recipe with only rice flour and did not like it as much as this. Adding some starches does seem to be best.

Timing was hard - I wasn't sure what constituted done. If you leave them too long, though, they start to crack. If you take them too soon, they are too squishy.

I also didn't use pans as they didn't fit in my steamer. I used muslin stretched taut over a bamboo steamer insert. The first one was hard to get off, but it created a sort of coating over time that made them much easier to remove.

In the end we decided on 3 minutes steam time per noodle. While I might be able to make a batch in less time than going to the store, it would depend on how far the store was! It might have been faster if I had used both sections of my steamer.