Rice noodles

[Kevin2]

I'm looking for an effective technique to prevent rice noodles from sticking together. I use olive oil on pasta but I doubt it would work with noodles.

[emmapresley]

ooh, i don't know.
i quite like their sticking together charm..hope someone can give you the culinary answer you need though

[Kevin2]

Thanks. charm... haha

[Mahk]

Assuming you boil them ( I can't be bothered by the "let them sit in warm water for half an hour" method) you add about a teaspoon or so of oil (I use peanut when preparing Pad Thai) to the water before the noodles and stir frequently. Works for me.

[Kevin2]

I'll try it. Thanks!

[Risker]

Oil added to the water will just float to the top and be a waste.

[Mahk]

That's why you stir it frequently, also the bubbling action of the boiling water helps mix it too. The oil being added first also means that even if the oil never left the top surface the noodles would still have to pass through it on their way to the bottom.

I think if you try it you'll find the bottom and sides of the emptied pot indeed have an oily coating, once you're done.

[Tigerlily]

ooh, i don't know.
i quite like their sticking together charm..hope someone can give you the culinary answer you need though

Me too.The sticking togetherness is why I buy rice noodles. LOL.

[emmapresley]

thanks tigerlily..was beginning to think i was some sort of sticky rice noodle eating freak

[auntierozzi]

I also like sticky rice and noodles especially because you can handle them really well with chopsticks.

[Kevin2]

I tried it yesterday with olive oil. It worked really well. I didn't even stir it often. yea.

[cedarblue]

this is exactly the thread i was looking for - well done the search function!

i'm cooking these tonight and it's difficult to divide them up when they're just a cloggy mess of goo in the pan. i guess i need to cook them al dente too - what about adding them to cold water after cooking? or would that goo them up even more?

[Mahk]

I never eat them plain, I'm almost always adding sauce to them (usually peanut or a tamarind/peanut mix with green onions and tofu to make pad Thai). What works for me besides the oil I add to the boiling water is to check them frequently by sampling them by taste at the critical time period (size of the noodle will determine this, thinner varieties are ready in only 3-4 minutes but thicker ones can be double that time or more). At the desired al dente-ness (?) add cold water to the pot by holding it under the faucet (this stops any further cooking) and then immediately dump it into a colander/strainer and rinse thoroughly until cold. This action I believe removes an outer layer of starch which is what makes them gooey and cling to each other. Once my sauce is ready I return the noodles to the pot with the sauce and mix and warm them together. Doing this for too long will cook the noodles beyond the al dente-ness you originally wanted, so either under cook the noodles intentionally or be sure to make this last step brief enough such that you don't over cook the noodles.

To the teeth! (what "al dente" literally means in Italian)

[bryzee86]

Oil added to the water will just float to the top and be a waste.

but as you put the noodles/pasta in the water, they pass through the oil, getting a thin coating, and thus not sticking together.

[Risker]

Which then gets washed off and floats to the surface, if you watched ready steady cook you'd know this

[Snorkmaiden]

I buy supermarket ready cooked ones and just microwave them in the bag

[confusionisben]

Don't mean to hi-jack the thread, but was wondering if anyone had any good rice noodle recipes. I made a nice noodle broth once, with leeks, chinese cabbage and some tofu amongs other things, but it was a little bland like.

[Paranoid Jandroid]

Rinse them when their done. Works for me!

there is a mean Laksa recipe on vegweb (www.vegweb.com) titled 'tasty laksa' I make it with rice noodles, it's killer.

Although not as good as Aunty Mena's laksa back home

[cedarblue]

confusionisben, you need to pep up the broth with chilli, lemongrass, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinigar that sort of thing? i make a luvverly noodle soup adapted from a nigella recipe. i think i posted it somewhere, i'll try and find it.

[Darky_]

Woo hoo....A rice noodle thread. I have had this, they;re either too sloppy or mega sticky and i would rather they were mage stuck into a ball... Anymore tips peeple...hehee... I have 1 handful left!