Traditional Homemade Silver Noodles may be intimidating to make, but they’re actually not. It’s super easy to whip up your own with only 2 key ingredients: rice flour and wheat starch.
Use chewy and silky silver noodles in different kinds of dishes, such as Hakka Style Silver Needle Noodles (客家炒银针粉), Claypot Mee Tak Bak, and Silver Pin Noodles with Chicken, among other things.
Follow my easy recipe to make homemade silver noodles from scratch.
- What Are Silver Noodles?
- How To Store And Reheat Silver Noodles
- The Best Tips To Make Silver Noodles
- Make Silver Noodles With These Ingredients And Items
- How To Make Silver Noodles
What Are Silver Noodles?
Silver noodles are known by many names, including silver needle noodles, silver pin noodles, rat noodles, and runny nose vermicelli. It is a type of Chinese noodle that is typically short, about 5cm in length. You may identify it as something similar to a pin or needle since the shape has two thin and pointed ends with a thicker body or center.
The color is white and slightly translucent. It is chewy and soft with a pleasant slippery texture. The taste is comparable to Ho Fun Noodles with a bit of saltiness.
You can have silver pin noodles for lunch or dinner cooked in stir-fry and clay pot dishes. It can be stir-fried with vegetables, shrimp, chicken, and many more. The cooking process of this Chinese noodle requires a lot of hand rolling and kneading of the dough before steaming it in boiled water.
You basically just need a steamer or a pot for steaming and your hands to work on the noodle’s shape. The ingredients for my recipe are also easy to prepare since it only uses rice flour, wheat starch, salt, and boiled water.
How To Store And Reheat Silver Noodles
Making large batches and storing them in the fridge is not really recommended for this recipe since it becomes dry and fragile. The longer it is stored in the fridge, the drier it becomes. Keeping it in the freezer is also not ideal since it will lose its texture over time.
However, if you don’t have a choice but to store some leftover noodles, make sure to keep them in an airtight container. Moreover, stir some oil into the noodles before storing them in the fridge. The oil prevents the noodles from sticking together.
You can keep it in the fridge for 3 days up to 1 week. The noodles will definitely harden, but you can make them soft again by reheating in the microwave or steaming in boiling water.
The Best Tips To Make Silver Noodles
Before starting this recipe, I recommend reading these guidelines and tips to make the perfect silver pin noodles. Several things can affect the noodles’ overall result, such as flour ratio and water temperature. I also share some techniques you can do when hand rolling and shaping the noodles.
- Rice flour: Rice flour is the key to making the noodles thicken. You cannot really use other types of flour, like glutinous rice flour or regular flour. These types of flour won’t yield the same results. Thus, make sure you only use rice flour to make these noodles.
- Wheat starch: Wheat starch is the most common ingredient in this recipe for its transparent color and chewy texture. However, some use cornstarch as a substitute since wheat starch may be difficult to find. The ratio for substituting cornstarch to wheat starch is 1:1.
- Rice flour and wheat starch ratio: Adjust the rice flour to wheat starch ratio according to your desired texture. Generally, the more wheat starch you put, the more the noodles are translucent and softer. On the other hand, putting more rice flour makes the noodles whiter and less chewy.
- Dough: When mixing boiling water with the dry dough ingredients, pour the water gradually. It should become sticky and not runny. If the mixture is runny, it means the water is not hot enough. Make sure you use boiled water before pouring it into the dough mixture.
- Work on warm dough: Wait for the hot dough to be warm and tolerable to work on. If it is too hot, wait for another 5 minutes and check. Don’t cool the dough too long since it will also be difficult to hand roll very cold dough. Moreover, it should not be sticky to the touch. Do not add more flour in this case, simply wait for it to cool down first. When it is cool to touch, it will not be as sticky as before.
- Shape the dough: To get even sizes, it is best to cut the dough into strips and then into smaller equal sizes before hand rolling. It is easier to roll the dough with your hand on a flat surface rather than rubbing it between your two hands.
Make Silver Noodles With These Ingredients And Items
It’s not hard to get what you need to make silver pin noodles as this recipe only requires basic kitchen items and store-bought ingredients. You can use a steamer or a regular pot with a lid to steam the dough. If you do not have a dough cutter, you can still use a kitchen knife to cut the dough.
Kitchen Items
- Mixing bowl to mix the dry ingredients
- Chopsticks or stirrer to mix the dough
- Dough cutter or kitchen knife
- Chopping board for kneading and cutting
- Steamer or pot with a lid with a stainless steel container inside
Ingredients
- 250g Rice flour
- 50g Wheat starch
- 1 tsp salt
- 280g boiled water
- 5g oil
How To Make Silver Noodles
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make silver noodles from scratch. Watch me make it to guide you properly through my short tutorial guides on Instagram and Tiktok. The recipe includes mixing the dough, kneading, rolling, shaping, and then steaming the pin noodles.
In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients: rice flour, wheat starch, and salt.
Then, get the 280g boiled water and gradually pour it into the dry mixture while stirring continuously with chopsticks or a stirrer. It should become lumpy and sticky.
When the dough is comfortable enough to touch, knead it until it is smooth. It should not be clumpy or sticky.
Once it becomes smooth, add 5g of oil and continue kneading until the oil is well incorporated into the dough.
Next, roll the dough into a long tube on a chopping board or flat surface.
Then, use a dough cutter to divide and cut the dough into several equal pieces about 2 inches wide.
Roll each piece into a long strand.
Afterward, cut each strand into smaller pieces about 1 to 2 cm long.
Take one piece and roll it into a silver pin using your palm. It should be thin and pointed on each end and thicker at the center.
Use a steamer or a simple pot with a lid with your pin noodles placed in a stainless steel container. Steam for 8 minutes once the water boils in the pot.
Then, rinse the noodles in water and drain them.
Lastly, cook the noodles according to your desired dish or keep them in the fridge for later.
Homemade Silver Noodles With Only 2 Ingredients
Equipment
- Mixing bowl to mix the dry ingredients
- Chopsticks or stirrer to mix the dough
- Dough cutter or kitchen knife
- Chopping board for kneading and cutting
- Steamer or pot with a lid with a stainless steel container inside
Ingredients
- 250 g Rice flour
- 50 g Wheat starch
- 1 tsp salt
- 280 g boiled water
- 5 g oil
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients: rice flour, wheat starch, and salt.
- Then, get the 280g boiled water and gradually pour it into the dry mixture while stirring continuously with chopsticks or a stirrer. It should become lumpy and sticky.
- When the dough is comfortable enough to touch, knead it until it is smooth. It should not be clumpy or sticky.
- Once it becomes smooth, add 5g of oil and continue kneading until the oil is well incorporated into the dough.
- Next, roll the dough into a long tube on a chopping board or flat surface.
- Then, use a dough cutter to divide and cut the dough into several equal pieces about 2 inches wide.
- Roll each piece into a long strand.
- Afterward, cut each strand into smaller pieces about 1 to 2 cm long.
- Take one piece and roll it into a silver pin using your palm. It should be thin and pointed on each end and thicker at the center.
- Use a steamer or a simple pot with a lid with your pin noodles placed in a stainless steel container. Steam for 8 minutes once the water boils in the pot.
- Then, drain the noodles and rinse them in water.
