Zen and the art of making noodles

Foreigners in China take home all sorts of things - tea, jade, stuffed pandas, pebbles from the Great Wall, to name just a few.

I'll leave the Middle Kingdom knowing how to make the finest noodles in China.

I booked myself into a hand-pulled noodle workshop at The Hutong and so one breezy Wednesday morning, I rode the subway to Beixinqiao and soon found myself in the big kitchen.

After quick introductions, my class of four followed the instructions of teacher, Gulistan.

"Knead it well, the dough mustn't be dry use the oil grease the plate it's easy, just keep rolling weave them through your fingers," she commanded.

For nearly two hours, we kneaded, rolled, pulled, chopped, diced, boiled and stir-fried.

I managed to roll out the dough into fine, long threads, but as I tried to pull them, the noodles invariably snapped. This accident worked out fine because shorter noodle are a lot easier to pick up with chopsticks.

Although I am not the happiest person if you put me in a kitchen, the cooking experience was delightful.

This was in part because Gulistan took us through not just the process of noodle making but also shared stories of learning to cook from her mother.

I discovered that pulling the dough, rolling it into fine threads, weaving them around your fingers and stretching them is a lot more fun than just eating them.

Marisha Thakur

(China Daily 05/11/2009 page9)