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Whether adults or children, everyone loves noodles, however, making them is a culinary art that not everyone can master. While making them from scratch is a whole different story, cooking the sticky noodles is not as easy as it sounds. From Asian soupy noodles to Italian spaghetti, a few techniques separate a chef from an amateur.
Video Credit: Kunal Kapur/ YouTube
One small mistake and all your noodles can stick together into a lump. Many seasoned cooks sometimes take a pause before cooking them. Here are a few common mistakes that you can avoid and make a lip-smacking restaurant-style bowl of noodles at home that everyone would devour with joy while praising your skills.
Skipping Salt
One of the most common and biggest mistakes people make is skipping salt when adding the noodles to a pot of boiling water. It can leave the pasta with a bland taste and make it hard for it to absorb flavours from vegetables, stew, and meat later. You can be as generous as you would like when cooking noodles.
Rinsing Noodles
After boiling, many amateur cooks rinse the noodles under tap water, which ends up removing the starch from them. The noodles will become slippery, and it will prevent sauces from sticking to them and leaving the noodles without flavour. Unless you are making cold noodle pasta or any other dish, you should avoid rinsing them.
Overcooking Noodles
Many people add noodles to the boiling pot of water and forget about them. They have to be cooked to the right temperature and taken out. If you overcook noodles, it will make them mushy. The texture will be unappetising so much that you would think that all your efforts went in vain. Always cook pasta or noodles till al dente, a specific time in cooking when they are firm and tender.
Overcrowding The Pot
You might think how does it matter how many noodle strands you add to a pot of boiling water, all will get cooked. It will be a big mistake on your part because overcrowding a pot will lead to uneven cooking of noodles. You must ensure to add the strands in a pan large enough so that you can stir them around without breaking.
Not Stirring
Yes, the boiling water will do the job of cooking noodles, but you need to do your job of stirring them at regular intervals. It will prevent them from sticking together. If you don’t stir, noodles will form a big lump which will be cooked unevenly. In the end, you will have to cut through it, leaving you with strands of varied sizes.
Not Tasting
When cooking noodles, you should taste them. It will ensure whether what you have cooked is flavourful or lacks something. If the salt is low or too much or the dish needs seasoning, you can add it all at the last stage. You will be able to make an excellent bowl of noodles that will satiate your cravings and help you gather praise from all your guests.
Ignoring Sauce
Many people forget to add sauce to the mixture while cooking noodles. They get all their flavours from the sauce because they can get absorbed into the pasta without much hassle. The right sauce can not only amplify the flavours but also improve the taste and take your culinary skills to another level. Try a mix of soy sauce, hot and chilly sauce, and ketchup.
