Do noodles taste better if you make them yourself? The answer to that question can be answered by the 30 students of the recent Warabi Ashibi Okinawa Cultural Day Camp, who were involved in making their own noodles that were
Do noodles taste better if you make them yourself? The answer to that question can be answered by the 30 students of the recent Warabi Ashibi Okinawa Cultural Day Camp, who were involved in making their own noodles that were prepared and served as part of their finale.
Step 1: Measure into a medium- sized mixing bowl 3 cups bread flour, 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon salt.
Easy enough as Kai Adachi watched junior leader Teri Konishi measure out the ingredients.
Add the water, and the fun begins as Brevin Ako was reluctant to give up the mixing spoon, ìItís still my turn,î he insisted as Vance Tokita tried to pick up the pace.
ìDonít eat it,î the group leader cautioned.
ìI ate it raw already. It tastes good,î the Ako and Tokita banter continued.
All the while, the dough formed itself into a ball leading up to the next step of pressing the dough flat and dividing the clump into three balls (one for each of the ìcooksî huddled over the bowl).
With the junior leaders doing the measured ball-making, the younger students were anxiously anticipating the next step as the leaders placed each ball into a quart-sized freezer bag (Ziplocs work well because of the seal).
ìYou do it like this,î Konishi instructed Thauri Manzano as she demonstrated the technique of using her body and her hand to squeegee the air out of the bag before locking the ball.
The airless sealed bag is then placed in the center of a shopping bag, and the fun begins.
ìI have to take off my shoes.î With the shopping bag (now containing the Ziploc-ed ball of dough) on the floor, the youngsters proceeded to step on the bag as if walking in place.
ìMassage with your feet,î encouraged Bernie Sakoda, one of the Warabi Ashibi leaders.
ìNo jump. Just massage with your feet.î Karen Kuba-Hori of the Hawaiëi United Okinawa Association could not resist but to break out the video camera.
One minute.
Two minutes.
The kneaded dough is ìpeeledî from the sides of the Ziploc bag careful not to open the ìsealedî bag. The separated dough is folded in half (without opening the bag), and returned to the outer shopping bag for another two minutes of kneading by feet.
This step is repeated twice, and when completed, the dough is removed from the freezer bag and laid out on a well-floured cutting board where it is rolled out with a rolling pin to a /-inch rectangular slab.
Manzano struggled with her pin as the dough picked up a mind of its own, sticking to the pin as the youngster tried to keep it on the board and still work the pin.
More flour. The boys found the answer ó sprinkle flour onto the dough to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin and cutting board.
Flat enough? It seemed like it would take forever. Back and forth. More flour. Back and forth. The rolled-out dough is then sprinkled with flour andfolded with one third of the long end folded towards the center, and repeated until it looks like an omelet. The adults took over at this point, where starting from one end, the dough was cut into /- to .-inch strips, or noodles.
These were stretched out and laid out on floured paper lining a soda box.
Cook the noodles in boiling water until done which takes about three minutes (sampling helps as ìSoupboneî Kashiwabara kept hungry samplers from snatching up the ìkoge (burnt).î Rinse in cool water and drain. The ball of dough yields approximately four cups of cooked noodles.
Serving is done with garnishing of char siu pork, luncheon meat, and green onions.
Sakoda said the soup base is usually the S&S variety, which is readily available at grocery stores, unless you have your own recipe for soup stock.
And, if you ask the students and their parents how the dish tastes, the answer is a unanimous ñ ìHm-m-m, good!î
