For real! This “pasta” is made of yuba, also known as tofu skin. Some people like to eat these noodles just heated or pan-fried, which isn’t bad, but still kind of tofu-y.
But!!!
I found a little-known hack in a Chinese chef video that makes it feel and taste much more like real pasta.
You boil it with baking soda! To me, straight out of the pot it tasted a lot like plain ol’ spaghetti. I am truly blown away by how much this resembles wheat pasta. It is slightly al dente, sturdy but also soft.
My test baches of various cooking times and styles.
I bought mine frozen at an Asian market, but you can also buy it dried from Amazon and other places.
I ran some tests, and found that boiling the ribbons with 1/2 t of baking soda in about 2 quarts water worked great. Boiled the noodles for 30-60 seconds. If they are overcooked (more than a minute and a half, roughly), they fall apart, so I suggest trying one noodle at first to see how long it takes.
I just slice this stuff into ribbons, parboil for 35-45 seconds and then stir them into a sauce. You can tell they are transformed by the baking soda when they drop onto a plate softly like noodles and not stiff.
The package says 5 carbs for 90 grams. which is a LOT! I could only eat about half that much. I had mine just with butter, garlic and parmesan but I’m looking forward to making real, Italian-style pasta dishes now!!!
Below is a video of a popular chef cooking these things (he didn’t use the baking soda hack).
You can also wrap shrimp and other things in the skin and pan fry till crispy to make dim sum.
Or make a noodle salad:
I’m ready to experiment with lasagne and other ideas! Also want to try different amounts of baking soda to see what that does.