Silver Needle Noodles 銀針粉 (Cantonese: ngun tsum fun) is pretty much shrimp dumpling, or har gow, skin made into noodle form. It wasn’t always like that though. Silver Needle Noodles 銀針粉 is actually a Hakka dish that became popular in Cantonese cuisine a few hundred years ago. It was originally made using cooked rice and water to make a paste. They would then shape them and boil them in soup. So the original was more like the thick rice vermicelli 瀨粉 (lai fun).
Because of its shape, its original name was “rat dropping noodles 老鼠屎粄” (lo shu si boon). Which was obviously not an appetizing name! So then they took out the “dropping 屎” and called it “rat noodles 老鼠粄”. Maybe a slight improvement from before. When it was first introduced in Hong Kong, people unfamiliar with it thought it was made with rat meat which was terrible for business. So, they changed the name to Silver Needle Noodles 銀針粉 because it also looks like a needle. And it definitely sounds more appetizing and civilized.
At some point, wheat starch substituted much of the rice paste to make the dough more translucent and chewy. And now, for simplicity, texture and aesthetics, rice is usually out of the picture. Although some people add still rice flour to it. But nowadays, the main ingredient is wheat starch 澄麵 (dung meen).
In my Silver Needle Noodles 銀針粉 recipe, I combine wheat starch, sweet potato starch and cornstarch to get a dough that’s easy to work with and has a chewy texture. I’ll show you how to make this classic Hong Kong style Silver Needle Noodles 銀針粉 from scratch. Not many restaurants make this dish anymore because it’s too labour intensive. But if you’ve ever reminisced of the old style Hong Kong flavours, give my recipe a try. And for those who have never had it before but you love har gow skin, you definitely need to try this dish!
While you're at it, why not make some Crystal Shrimp Dumplings 水晶蝦餃 too? Or for a slight twist, try my Crystal Scallop Dumplings 水晶帶子餃.
Silver Needle Noodles 銀針粉
Ingredients
Ingredients for making Silver Needle Noodles from scratch:
- 130 g Wheat starch
- 130 g Sweet potato starch
- 60 g Corn starch
- 400 ml Boiling hot water
- 4 g Salt
- 2 tsp Oil to be added to mixture
- 1 tbsp Oil for coating after steaming
Ingredients for shiitake marinade:
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- ½ tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
- 1 tsp Oil
Ingredients for frying:
- 200 g Cantonese barbeque pork
- 200 g Shrimp , shelled and deveined
- 2 Large eggs
- 100 g Cabbage , shredded
- 100 g Carrots , shredded or julienned
- 1 Medium onion , thin sliced
- 4 Shiitake mushrooms (approx. 30g), thinly sliced
- 1 stalk Green onion , 5 cm pieces
- 1 tbsp Fish sauce
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 2 tsp Oil
Instructions
Instruction for making Silver Needle Noodles from scratch:
- Combine 130g wheat starch, 130g sweet potato starch, and 4g salt in a mixing bowl and mix well
- Pour 400ml of water into a kettle and bring it to a boil
- As soon as the water boils, pour into starch mixture and stir quickly. It helps if someone can help you pour the water while you stir. If there is no one to help you, you can do 2 pours within 10 seconds apart so that the water stays very hot. Your mixture should look lumpy and a bit translucent.
If it’s runny, then your water wasn’t hot enough and you’ll need to redo it…yikes! - Pour in 2 tsp oil and mix together
- Cover with a lid or plate for 5 minutes.
- During your wait time, line a steamer with steamer paper or parchment paper with some small holes cut into it
- When the 5 minutes is up, touch the dough. If it’s still too hot for your hands to work with, then cover for another few minutes. But you shouldn’t wait for it to get too cool, it’ll be difficult to smooth out after it cools
- Add the 30g of cornstarch onto the mixture. Use your hands to incorporate the cornstarch into the dough. When the cornstarch has been incorporated, transfer the dough onto a flat surface
- Knead the dough until it’s smooth. It should take approx. 2 minutes. Dough should still be warm, soft, malleable and non-sticky
- Form into a ball and cut into 4 portions. Put the other 3 portions back into covered bowl
- You can either pull a little bit of dough off and roll it into Silver Needle Noodle shape (approx. 5 cm long with pointed ends). Or you can roll it out, cut them into strips and then roll. The latter method will give you a more uniformed size
I find that rolling it with your hand on a flat surface the easiest way - Put each finished noodle on the parchment paper in the steamer. Try not to have them touch. Repeat step 11 and 12 until all the dough is used
- Steam on high heat for 6 minutes or until the noodles become a translucent colour
If you’ve run out of space in your steamer, you can add a steamer stand in your steamer to make a second level - Let cool for a few minutes
- Add 1 tbsp oil into a mixing bowl
- Transfer the silver needle noodles from the steamer into the mixing bowl, mixing now and then so that the noodles are coated with oil and don’t stick together
- They are now ready to be fried
Instructions for frying Silver Needle Noodles:
- Beat 2 eggs, fry and roughly chop (or slice in strips)
- Pan-fry shrimp using 2 tsp oil. Set aside
- Slice barbeque pork, onions, shitake, green onions and carrots. Set aside
- Marinate shiitake mushrooms with 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp cornstarch and ½ tsp sugar. Mix well, add 1 tsp oil and mix again. Set aside
- Heat wok on high heat
- Add 2 tbsp oil
- Add carrots and onions to the wok and fry for approx. 1 minute. Move everything to one side
- Add cabbage and fry for approx. 1 minute. Move everything to one side. Repeat for shiitake mushrooms and barbeque pork
- Add 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- Add silver needle noodles and stir fry for 1 minute
- Add shrimp, egg, green onions, 1 tbsp fish sauce and 1 tbsp light soy sauce. Stir-fry for 1 minute
- Serve
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