First of all, this is not my invention. Many years ago I read about transforming Spaghetti into ‘Ramen’ Noodles. The noodles commonly known as Chinese style noodles are made of wheat flour and an alkaline salt solution, that is called ‘Kansui’ in Japanese.

Widely available dry Italian pasta noodles such as Spaghetti are basically made of wheat flour and water. Cooking them in the water mixed with Bi-Carb Soda (Baking Soda), that is an alkaline salt, causes a chemical reaction and flavour and texture of Spaghetti will change.

I was very skeptical until I tried it. I do not buy shrink wrapped Chinese noodles any more. You got to try it and get amazed!

Ingredients

Spaghetti *Thin Spaghetti recommended
1000ml (4 cups) Water
1 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Bi-Carb Soda (Baking Soda)

Method

1. Bring Water to the boil, add Salt and Bi-Carb Soda (Baking Soda). Be aware Bi-Carb Soda will create a lot of bubbles.
2. Add dry Spaghetti and cook 2 minutes extra long. The colour of water will turn yellow. Be careful as it bubbles up.
3. When cooked, rinse with hot water (OR cold water) to get rid of the unpleasant alkali taste. Then use the noodles for cooking or enjoy with a soup.
4. Above photo is ‘Yakisoba’.