How To Make Soup Noodles

Growing up, we would spend our summers mostly in British Columbia; either in Kelowna or in Sparwood where my mother was born and raised and where my Nonna, Aunt and Uncle lived.

They were neighbours. My Nonna lived in her house on her own and right next door were my Auntie Dena, Uncle Rudy and their 3 kids. When we would stay in Sparwood, it would be at my Nonna's house. Some days we would all have dinner at my Nonna's and other days we would all be over at my Aunt's. And throughout the day all of us kids would travel between the two houses like we owned them. Doors banging, shoes flying on and off. It was a great time of life. But in all of those years, never once did I get to have my Aunt's home made soup noodles.

So when I went out to visit them in the fall, I insisted that not only did she make them for me, but that she taught me how to make soup noodles, so that I could learn to make them myself. I believe we need to pass these recipes on or they get lost...and for some reason, that thought makes me sad.

AUNTIE DENA AND HER RECIPE BOOK

These noodles require very few ingredients, it is just time that they need. They soak up so much of the broth and get nice and fat and chewy. It ends up being more noodle soup that soup with noodles. But trust me, they are worth it.

Now with a lot of these types of recipes, certain quantity of ingredients really depend on feel. So exact amounts are not given. I quite like this type of cooking. It makes you get closer to your food, understand how it works and I believe in time, makes the end product more delicious.

Auntie Dena's Soup Noodles

Ingredients

8 eggs

splash of Canola Oil

1-2 tsp salt

4 cups flour (approximate)

In a medium sized bowl, beat eggs until yolks are lightly broken up. Then add in the canola, salt and flour one cup at a time. Mixing it thoroughly before adding in the next cup. Now, in my family, mixing anything to do with flour (bread, noodles, etc) all ends up being done in a larger sized silver bowl down on your hands and knees on the floor. Basically kneading the shit out of it. When I was younger and my mom made bread, I always assumed this was a form of stress relief. That she got out all of the frustration that her 5 daughters heaped onto her shoulders. Now I realize it was a combination of that, but also it is just easier to get the leverage when you are working above the bowl.

Once your dough has formed a nice ball, and is no longer sticky to the touch, you are ready to begin rolling it out. For this, you will need a nice sized flat surface. We rolled it on the table as it was too large for the counter top.

Sprinkle your table or counter top with flour, place the dough ball on the flour and roll it out to the desired thickness. You want to roll it in a rectangular shape versus a round shape.

Once you have achieved the desired thickness, lay it out on a towel, and allow it to dry, flipping it half way through so both sides dry (approximately an hour).

Once the dough has dried, sprinkle with a little flour and then roll the dough up loosely. You are going to cut the dough on an angle at the end, and then continue cutting on angles so that you are getting short noodles.

Continue cutting on an angle until you have cut all of the dough and then pile up the noodles loosely and allow to sit. You will boil these in a large pot of water for 20-25 minutes. Rinse with hot water and then add to the broth/sauce of your choice.

UNCLE RUDY