As-salamu alaikum, gourmets! Today, preparing for the most delicious dish of the peoples of Central Asia is a Laghman. Initially, it is believed that the history of the dish goes back to Uyguria, East Turkestan, and now it is the territory of China. In general, the dish was invented by the Uighur people, an ancient Turkic-speaking people, settled landowners, fishermen and hunters. Since 1949, East Turkestan has become part of China. We will prepare the Laghman itself a little later, today we are preparing noodle Laghman.
How to cook noodle Laghman?
Noodles for Laghman are prepared exclusively by hand from flour, water, eggs and a pinch of salt. The process of making noodles for Laghman is very long and time-consuming. The whole complexity of making such noodles is in the technique of rolling dough with your hands.
The dough is kneaded, rolled into a circle of small thickness and cut into strips. And then the most difficult thing begins. Each strip of dough must be rolled into an elongated round thread. First, we roll out with our hands into a thick thread, then into a thinner one. In order for the dough not to dry out and become brittle, it is necessary to lubricate with vegetable oil at each stage. Therefore, when you cook these noodles, all hands and the surface of the table will be in oil.
Two approaches can be used to prepare noodles.
First: place a strip of dough between your palms and start moving your palms from one end to the other in parallel. Second: put a strip of dough on the table. Press one edge of the dough with one hand, and with the other hand roll out the dough on the table, with a slight effort in the opposite direction from the fixed edge. So the noodles are stretched and the dough becomes thinner.
Next, after connecting the ends of the resulting dough thread several times, we hit it on the table, so the dough stretches, becomes elastic and decreases in diameter. A similar method is used to make noodles throughout Asia. In Japan, for example, chef can make up to 8000 thin threads of noodles from one small piece of dough, using this method. It seems complicated at first glance, but after trying it, you will immediately understand the principle and begin to gain experience. In our case, so many thin threads of noodles are not needed. The thickness of the finished dough thread is 3mm (0.12 inches). I was also afraid, but it worked out the first time, although I had never tried this method of making noodles before.
Hand-pulled noodle laghman
The taste of noodles in a ready-made Laghman is certainly not comparable to anything! The noodles turn out to be thin, but at the same time dense, elastic and perfectly absorbs the whole taste of the dish.
Recipe type:Noodle
Recipe type:Asian
Yield:4
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients:
Water — 150 ml
Chicken egg — 1 piece
Salt — 1 teaspoon
Flour — 500 grams
Directions:
1. Mix water, egg, salt in a deep cup.
2. Beat the base mixture with a whisk until a homogeneous liquid.
3. Sow the flour separately in a deep bowl. If you use a food processor, then pour the flour into its cup and use the “hook” attachment to knead the dough.
4. Add the base mixture in portions to the flour and gradually knead. If you use a combine harvester, turn it on at a slow speed and gradually top up the base mixture.
5. Knead the dough for 5-6 minutes.
6. Place the dough in a cellophane bag and leave for 30 minutes.
7. Take out the dough, knead it with your hands several times and put it back in a cellophane bag for 20 minutes.
8. Get the dough out of the bag. Roll out with a rolling pin in the form of a circle with a thickness of 1 cm (0.4 inches).
9. Cut the dough into strips with a thickness of 1 cm (0.4 inches). Cut long strips into 2 pieces.
10. Lubricate the cellophane bag from the inside with a small amount of vegetable oil.
11. Put all the dough strips into the bag after smearing each strip with vegetable oil using a silicone brush or pen. So the dough will not dry out while you are working with it.
12. Prepare a large flat plate and lubricate its bottom with oil.
13. We take one piece of dough in our hand, and with the second hand we cover the dough and begin parallel movements so that the dough turns into a long “sausage” of the same thickness. The thickness is half the thickness of your index finger. The length can be arbitrary for each piece of dough.
14. We spread such long “sausages” from the middle of the plate, twisting them into a spiral. Lubricate with oil, so that they do not dry out. We begin to spread the following pieces from the edge of the last one on a plate. It may happen that the surface of the plate will be completely filled with such pieces, then start laying out new pieces with the second layer.
15. Roll out the remaining pieces of dough with your hands.
16. Cover the dough with another plate on top when you finish rolling out all the dough.
17. Turn over both plates carefully to swap the top and bottom places.
18. Remove the plate from the top.
19. Take the first rolled piece of dough from the middle.
20. We take a piece of dough (“sausage”) again between the palms of our hands and roll it out even thinner. The thickness should decrease 4-5 times. (The second method: lubricate the work surface with oil. Put the dough on it. Press lightly from one end with one hand, and with the other hand make rolling movements on the work surface with a slight effort away from the extreme hand. So you roll out the dough slightly stretching it in length. Choose the method that is more convenient for you.)
21. Take the edge of the dough in one hand, the second edge in the second hand. Align the edges without blinding them. Connect the formed new edge again with the second edge. It will turn out as if you are holding a long rope of dough in your hands.
22. Hit the dough in your hands several times on the table. So the dough will begin to stretch and become thinner in diameter. Make a few strokes until the dough is reduced in thickness by 2 times.
23. The finished dough can be oiled and frozen in the freezer, or immediately boiled in boiling water for Laghman.
