Types




Wheatedit

These noodles are made only with wheat flour and water. If the intended product is dried noodles, salt is almost always added to the recipe.

Common English name Characters Pinyin Cantonese Hokkien Description
Cat's ear 貓耳朵 māo ěr duǒ maau ji do ? Looks like a cat's ear; similar to western Orecchiette
Cold noodles 凉面

涼麵

liáng miàn loeng mein ? Served cold
Dao xiao mian 刀削面

刀削麵

dāo xiāo miàn doe soek mein ? Relatively short flat noodle peeled by knife from a firm slab of dough
Lamian 拉麵 lā miàn laai min la-mī Hand-pulled noodles from which ramen was derived
Yaka mein (Yat ca mein, Yet ca mein) 一個麵 yī gè miàn ? ? North American Chinese style wheat noodles similar to spaghetti; sold in Canada and the United States
Lo mein 捞面

撈麵

lāo miàn lo mein lo mi Egg noodles that are stir fried with sliced vegetables and/or meats and other seasonings
Misua 面线

麵線

miàn xiàn mein sin mī-sòaⁿ Thin, salted wheat noodles (1 mm diameter). Can be caramelized to a brown colour through extensive steaming. Similar to very fine vermicelli
宮麵 gōng miàn ? ?
Saang mein 生面

生麵

shēng miàn saang min senn mī Soapy texture
Thick noodles 粗面

粗麵

cū miàn cou min chho͘-mī Thick wheat flour noodles, from which udon was derived

Lye-water or eggedit

These wheat flour noodles are more chewy in texture and yellow in colour either due to the addition of lye (sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, calcium hydroxide, or potassium hydroxide) and/or egg. This class of lye water noodles (Chinese: 碱面／碱麵; pinyin: jiǎn miàn) has a subtle but distinctive smell and taste, described by some as being "eggy".

Common English name Characters Pinyin Cantonese Hokkien Description
Oil noodles 油面

油麵

yóu miàn jau min iû-mī Made of wheat flour and egg or lye-water; often comes pre-cooked.
Thin noodles 幼面

幼麵

yòu miàn jau min iù-mī Thin lye-water noodles; one of the most common Cantonese noodles
Mee pok 麵薄 miàn báo ? mī-po̍k Flat egg or lye-water noodles. Similar to Linguine
Yi mein 伊麵
伊府麵		 yī miàn
yī fǔ miàn		 yī mihn

yī fú mihn

i-mī

i-hú-mī

Fried, chewy noodles made from wheat flour and egg or lye-water
Shrimp roe noodles 蝦子麵 xiā zǐ miàn haa zi min hê-tsí-mī Made of wheat flour, lye-water, and roe, which show up as black spots
Jook-sing noodles 竹昇麵 zhú shēng miàn zuk sing min tik-sing-mī A rare type of Cantonese noodle in which the dough is tenderized with a large bamboo log

Riceedit

Rice-based noodles can be:

  1. Extruded from a paste and steamed into strands of noodles
  2. Steamed from a slurry into sheets and then sliced into strands

These noodles are typically made only with rice and water without the addition of salt. Although unorthodox, some producers may choose to add other plant starches to modify the texture of the noodles.

Common English name Characters Pinyin Cantonese Hokkien Description
Kway teow 粿条 gǔo tiáo gwó tìuh kóe-tiâu Flat rice noodles
Ho fun, Chow fun 沙河粉 shā hé fěn saa ho fan sa-hô-hún Very wide, flat, rice noodles
河粉 hé fěn ho fan hô-hún
Lai fun 瀨粉
酹粉		 lài fěn laai fan luā-hún Thick round semi-transparent noodle made from sticky rice
Mai sin 米線
米线		 mǐ xiàn mai sin bee sua Rice noodles also called Guilin mífěn (桂林米粉)
Rice vermicelli 米粉 mí fěn mai fen bí-hún Thin rice noodles

Starchedit

These noodles are made using various plant starches. Mung bean starch noodles will often be cut with tapioca starch to make them more chewy and reduce production costs.

Common English name Characters Pinyin Cantonese Hokkien Description
Winter noodles 冬粉 dōng fěn dung fun tang-hún Very thin mung bean starch noodles, similar to vermicelli
Bean threads 粉絲 fěn sī fun sze ? Thin cellophane-like noodles
Mung bean sheets 粉皮 fěn pí fan pei hún-phê Wide, clear noodles made from mung bean starch
Liang pi 凉皮 líang pí ? ? Translucent noodles made from wheat starch left from producing gluten
Silver needle noodles 銀針粉 yín zhēn fěn ngan zam fan ? Spindle-shaped wheat starch noodles, ca. 5 cm in length and 3–5 mm in diameter
老鼠粉 lǎo shǔ fěn lou syu fan niáu-chhú-hún
Suān là fěn 酸辣粉 suān là fěn chuan lao fán ? Chongqing hot & spicy sweet potato starch noodles

Oatedit

In China, particularly in western Inner Mongolia and Shanxi province, oat (Avena nuda) flour is called yóu miàn (莜面), and is processed into noodles or thin-walled rolls, which are consumed as staple food. The process of making oat noodles is special. The oat dough is twisted on marble plate which can ensure the dough will not stick on it, into strips and thin-rolls. It can be boiled and also steamed with different sauces to eat.

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Production

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Chinese noodles are generally made from either wheat flour, rice flour, or mung bean starch, with wheat noodles being more commonly produced and consumed in northern China and rice noodles being more typical of southern China. Egg, lye, and cereal may also be added to noodles made from wheat flour in order to give the noodles a different color or flavor. Egg whites, arrowroot or tapioca starch are sometimes added to the flour mixture in low quantities to change the texture and tenderness of the noodles' strands. Although illegal, the practice of adding the chemical cross-linker borax to whiten noodles and improve their texture is also quite common in East Asia. In general, the chinese noodles cooking method involves making a dough with flour, salt, and water; mixing the dough by hand to form bar shapes; bending the bars for proofing; pulling the bars into strips; dropping the strips into a pot with boiling water; and removing the noodles when finished cooking. Chinese type noodles
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Nomenclature

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Nomenclature of Chinese noodles can be difficult due to the vast spectrum available in China and the many dialects of Chinese used to name them. In Mandarin, miàn (simplified Chinese: 面 ; traditional Chinese: 麵 ; often transliterated as "mien" or "mein" ) refers to noodles made from wheat flour, while fěn ( 粉 ) or "fun" refers to noodles made from other starches, particularly rice flour and mung bean starch. Each noodle type can be rendered in pinyin for Mandarin, but in Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong it will be known by its Cantonese pronunciation ("meen" or "mien" for wheat noodles, "fun" for non-wheat). Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and many other Overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia may use Hokkien (Min Nan) instead (e.g. "mee" for wheat noodles).
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Cooking

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Noodles may be cooked from either their fresh (moist) or dry forms. They are generally boiled, although they may also be deep-fried in oil until crispy. Boiled noodles may then be stir fried, served with sauce or other accompaniments, or served in soup, often with meat and other ingredients. Certain rice-noodles are made directly from steaming the raw rice slurry and are only consumed fresh. Unlike many Western noodles and pastas, Chinese noodles made from wheat flour are usually made from salted dough, and therefore do not require the addition of salt to the liquid in which they are boiled. Chinese noodles also cook very quickly, generally requiring less than 5 minutes to become al dente and some taking less than a minute to finish cooking, with thinner noodles requiring less time to cook. Chinese noodles made from rice or mung bean starch do not generally contain salt.
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