Homemade Udon

Homemade Udon

T craved for Udon since two days ago, told him to buy instant udon from supermarket but he insisted on having homemade udon. The ingredients for making udon are similar to homemade noodles that I often cook. This time I did an experiment, added some tapioca starch. I remember my mom used to cook a translucent and very chewy noodles made with tapioca starch.

Tapioca starch gives udon extra chewy texture, even though I used lesser amount of bread flour as I always did. I cooked my udon in dashi stock on T's request. He said "we can taste the udon better in simple stock". Since when he has became a food critic? By the way, udon can be served with warm dashi stock, either plain or with some toppings such as tempura. It can also be served chilled, just like cold soba. If you like stir-fried noodles, try with udon too.

Homemade Udon

Ingredients:
2½ cup bread flour
2½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp tapioca starch
1⅓ cup warm water
1 tsp salt

Methods:
  1. Dissolve salt in the water and set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, bring together bread flour, all-purpose flour and starch. Make a small well in the center and add in water.
  3. Mix with fingers from the well, and slowly form into a lumpy ball. Don't worry that if the dough is a bit on the dry or hard side.
  4. Rest dough for 15 minutes or longer, then it will be easier or softer to work with. Knead it on the lightly floured surface until smooth. Keep dough in an air-tight container or plastic bag, rest for a few hours or overnight if possible.
  5. Knead again. If you are making in large quantity, you may want to wrap dough with heavy duty plastic sheets, place it on the floor and have a little dance on it.
  6. Roll out the dough into ½ cm thickness and cut into strips. Drop udon into boiling water and cook until they are floated on the surface. Ready to serve.

(recipe updated on 27 June 2009)

Comments

  1. Love Udon.. never made fresh one though. I think I need to give it a go this time. There are many things on my to-do list! hehehe.
    What makes the homemade different from those from the shops?

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  2. hey wow...that tasted really good...any more you have?

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  3. I have to salute you, Lydia..
    If me, I will sure buy udon from supermarket rather than doing it by myself.
    I wonder how long did you take to finished the whole noodle making process?

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  4. Leemei:
    Good question. I am sure this homemade udon is much better than instant udon in term of texture (chewier) and taste. What about comparing it to restaurant made? I asked T this question as he is more experienced in eating udon. :D He said this udon is very chewy (good udon should be chewy), which is similar to restaurant quality, or better than those low-end restaurants.

    electronic:
    Yes, want me to e-mail some to you? :D

    joanne:
    Salute my mouth maybe, I love to eat. I made myself since I learnt to make it. Making the dough didn't take too long, I made the dough before sleep and let it rest overnight. Rolling and cutting processes did take a little time, but cooking was quick.

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  5. I'd love to try making my own udon - Im sure it adds great freshness to a broth-based soup like this. Yours looks great!

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  6. Lydia,
    Thanks for your explanation! It helps! You are right- those that I bought from the shops, texture wise, it's very different from restaurants!
    That's why I never buy again after a few times cos I thought they are not tasty, not chewy at all.
    I really need to try your recipe :) Thanks for sharing!!

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  7. To have chewy noodles, we can soak the noodles in ice water during the cooking process. My way is, first cook in water until 70-80% cooked, then quickly soak the noodles in ice water for maybe 30s, then put the noodles into the boiling water again until the noodles are warm for serving. When making lots of udon noodles, I tried to freeze udon noodles before. It did work!

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  8. pepsi,
    Another good tips!

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  9. Chocolate Shavings:
    Thanks for the compliments. Another udon lover? :D

    Leemei:
    You are welcome. Btw, if you have extra dough, you can keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days. My hb said it was nicer the next day.

    Pepsi:
    Thanks for tips! I usually use that iced water method for instant noodles or pasta, but fresh noodles. Will try it out. Other method I use is to add cold water when the pasta/noodles is half done, bring to boil then drain. This method works for me, and I find it easier.

    The freeze method, do you freeze it after cooked it or before cooking?

    Cakeitaly.com:
    Thanks for dropped by. Hope you like recipes in My Kitchen. Btw, your link doesn't work.

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  10. I freeze uncooked noodles. Usually, after I made the noodles, I divide them into many portions, pack in ziplock bag then freeze. When I need to eat the noodles, I just soak a bag of noodles in warm water for about 1-3 mins, then cook. When u pack them, try not to put so much starch and not to squeeze the noodles.In other words, as loose as possible. This makes the thawing process faster and easier.

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  11. Ok, then I salute for your everything, mouth lah, hand lah, brain lah and etc..coz you really have all the skills and "heart" to make all this nice dishes and share the recipes with us. So nice of you.

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  12. Wow, I'm impressed. I've never had fresh udon, I bet it's much better.

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  13. Pepsi:
    Thanks for that. Will try out your method next time.

    Joanne:
    I take that as compliments. Thanks ya... :D I just love busying around in the kitchen.

    gaga:
    Welcome to My Kitchen. I think some restaurants make their own udon... or you meant fresh from your kitchen?

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  14. Making your own udon noodles is fun and those look good!

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  15. u mention 1 cup of warm water rite? i follow your recipe here but the dough come out hard to knead and the flours can't combine together? is that mean more water?

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  16. Kevin,
    Agree with you, it is like a family event.

    Anonymous,
    The dough for this noodles is hard to knead, but after resting will be easier to work with. If you are making alot at one time, I suggest you to "knead" with foot. Place dough in a heavy duty plastic bag and cover it with clean towel, then place in on the floor and "knead" with your foot.

    All flour should be able to combine together, it looks dry at first but after resting or overnite will looks like the one in photo. If really too dry for you, add just a few drops more of water. Btw, my one cup is 250ml.

    Happy cooking!

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  17. I just made this noodle and it is AMAZING! I've always been a bit obsessed with chewy noodles (cantonese lai fun, hor fun, shanghai thick noodles, udon noodles, etc.) and always thought the instant ones in the supermarket were crap.

    This recipe is amazing! It is definitely super chewy and i think the tapioca starch makes it very silky. One thing I would say is that I needed an additional 1/3 cup of water. Using just one cup/250 ml made the dough still cracked and crumbly. I also like to make my own pasta and dumpling skins so I used a similar method where I added the warm water bit by bit until it got to an elastic texture and wouldn't stick to the sides of my bowl anymore (I prefer to knead dough in a bowl so it's less of a mess). I did have to jump on the dough (placed in a gallon ziploc bag) more than a few times to knead it properly. I yielded about 10 servings from this and will be freezing all my unused noodles for future use.

    This is a GREAT recipe! Thanks so much Lydia!

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  18. Hi misomui,

    Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it very much.

    I am not sure if flour produced in different places has different water absorption rate, I experienced some problems with water and flour ratio when I lived in Sydney.

    Taking your and other's feedback into consideration, I have updated amount of water on my post. Thanks again, and glad that you like this recipe.

    cheers,
    Lydia

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  19. I just made the dough for this and its now resting. I replaced tapioca starch with cornstarch because I don't have any on hand...I hope it will turn out ok! Thanks for the recipe - I absolutely LOVE udon (I can eat it everyday for every meal)!

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  20. Thanks will try making the recipe later:)

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  21. I just made the noodles and they were a bit too chewy, could hardly chew it. I sliced it the size in the picture in this article but it was way too thick. I did have to add 3 TBS additional warm water to my dough to get it to form into a ball. I also could not roll it out, I had to put in a clear plastic bag and step on it, lol. The dough was too hard, I think next time if I dare to make these noodles again I would add 1 1/2 cups of water instead of 1 1/3 of a cup. And I would slice super thin so you don't get huge/chewy/heavy/doughy noodles.

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  22. Thank you for sharing recipes. Udon is one of my favorite noodle. My family love it.

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  23. Beautiful photo of your udon recipe. Wondering what the texture is like is it smooth or does it break easily? I'm going to try it soon! thanks.

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  24. It does not break easily, texture wise it is a chewy type of udon. Make sure the dough rested overnight before making into udon for better texture.

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  25. Hi Lydia, do you cover and let it rest outside or inside the fridge? How long do you boil until it's done? Mine didn't come out as white as yours. I boiled until it floated but it still tasted undone. Would you tell me what I did wrong? Thanks so much, love your page!

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