Hand-rolled Oat Flour Noodles - Not your typical noodle making method

           For the past 5.5 months, my in-laws have been living with us and we certainly have had our days. Half the time they are trying to tell us how things should be around the house, the other half of the time, we're telling them what they shouldn't be doing! Although there have been some tense days with them staying with us, I have to admit, they have definitely been helpful around the house, especially in the kitchen. One of the perks of living with the in-laws (and being unemployed ...) is that I get to learn a bunch of cooking techniques! AND I get to eat some things that I've never eaten before (which is more exciting than the actual cooking :P). The other night was one of those nights where I got really excited to see and taste something different - hand-rolled oat flour noodles! I've only ever heard of hand-pulled wheat flour noodles, and I've seen how those were made and have tasted them before. But hand-rolled noodles?!?, this was a completely new to me.
            These noodles are called 莜面 (oat flour) and originate from the Shanxi province in China. In general, this province is known for it's noodle dishes. I've been to Datong, China, a city within the Shanxi province and where my husband and his family are originally from. I can say that I definitely remember eating delicious noodles of all sorts, but I don't recall eating this particular type of noodle. I guess that is what happens when there too much to do and see with not enough time! Anyhow, I'm glad I got to see first hand how these noodles are made. Pretty neat to watch!

            The dough recipe itself is pretty simple - oat flour and boiled water (yes, according to mom-in-law, you must use boiled hot water in order to make the dough). Unfortunately, I can't really tell you the proportion of flour to water (they generally eyeball the amounts!)...yet. I'll have to try making it myself first and then I'll post the proportions later. After making the dough, she pinched off two pieces of dough and then started the rolling process with the palm of her hand. She rolled two noodle strands simultaneously with one hand - amazing! I was just mesmerized with watching how she did the whole process so gracefully and quickly. After she made all the noodles, she steamed them instead of boiling them. We had ground lamb with broth and some other veggies to go with the noodles - yum.

               For now I'll just share some photos of her making it (once I get the video posting figured out I'll put a video of her making it up too)! Maybe it's me, but it's so fun to watch the noodles being made! AND they're yummy!

Mom-in-law rolling out the noodles from the dough - she was making two noodle strands with one hand!

Rolled out noodles ready for steaming!