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Ban Mian Minced Pork Noodle Soup (Handmade Noodle Soup) – Easy homemade flat egg noodles are served in anchovies-based stock and served with minced pork, fried anchovies, and egg.
Ban Mian Minced Pork Noodle Soup (Flat Noodle Soup)
Another noodle dish that I really found comfort in when I stayed in Singapore was ban mian (板麺). I had this pretty often for dinner as it is light and satisfying at the same time. The noodle is made with the exact same recipe for Mee Hoon Kueh. Mee hoon kueh and ban mian is actually the same thing! They are made with the exact same ingredients. Mee hoon kueh is the Hokkien version of ban mian. Usually, the noodle dough is flattened and then torn by hands to make irregular shapes noodle. Ban mian noodle dough is flattened and then cut into wide strands of noodles.
HOMEMADE BAN MIAN NOODLE IS EASY TO MAKE AND NO FANCY MACHINE IS REQUIRED
The noodle is made with wheat flour (all-purpose flour), eggs, water, and a bit of salt. Just like how one would make egg noodles.
Here’s how to make homemade ban mian noodles from scratch:
1. Mix the flour, eggs, water, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Start with 1/4 cup of water. If you need to add a bit more water, add by teaspoon, you may not need much at all. Use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment if you have one, otherwise, just knead by hand until you can form a smooth dough ball
2. Let the dough rest for 1 hour
3. Divide the dough into 4 pieces
4. Work with one piece at a time and cover the rest. Flatten the dough into about 1/8-inch thickness with rolling pin
5.Use the rolling pin as a guide, I cut the noodle with a pizza cutter (made my life so much easier) into about 3/4-inch wide.
6.Toss with a bit of flour to prevent noodles from sticking to each other. Continue working with the rest of the dough
7. Only cook the noodles when you are ready to serve them. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook for about 1 minute and then transfer to a soup base to continue cooking
HOW TO STORE HOMEMADE FRESH NOODLE
It’s great to be able to make the ban mian noodles ahead and cook them whenever you need them
REFRIGERATOR: Dust the noodles with some flour and then loosely fold them into a nest and let them dry for 1 hour. Transfer to a storage bag or container and they can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 days.
FREEZER: Dust the noodles with some flour and then loosely fold them into a nest and let them dry for 1 hour. Transfer to a storage bag or container and they can be kept in the freezer for months (I can say up to 1 year)
COOKING: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then cook the noodles for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, it may take extra few seconds for frozen noodles. No thawing necessary if cooking frozen noodles.
Ban Mian Minced Pork Noodle Soup (Handmade Noodle Soup)
Ingredients
Ban Mian Noodles:
- 360 gr all purpose flour about 3 cups
- 90 ml water and add more as needed 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp and more as needed
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
Meat:
- 250 gr ground pork 9 oz
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- 2 tsp cornstarch
Soup base:
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 25 gr dried anchovies small to medium size
- 100 gr soy beans or you can use 5-6 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt to taste
- 1 cube chicken bouillon optional
Other ingredients:
- 1 large bunch of yu choy trim off large stems and cut into small bite-size pieces
- 30 gr dried anchovies large anchovies
- 4 large eggs optional
Garnishes
- 1 stalk green onion finely chopped
- Fried crispy shallots available at Asian grocery store
- 5-6 Red chilli finely chopped
Instructions
FRYING DRIED ANCHOVIES:
- Preheat a small to medium pan with some oil, just enough to cover the anchovies. Fried the anchovies until golden brown. Remove and place on absorbent paper towel to absorb some extra oil
MAKING THE SOUP:
- Bring chicken broth to a boil. Add chicken bouillon, ikan bilis and soy beans (or mushrooms). Bring back to a boil and lower the heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with sugar, salt to taste. Strain the stock and discard solids
BAN MIAN DOUGH:
- Mix all the ingredients for ban mian in a large mixing bowl. Start with about 1/4 cup of water and knead with your cleaned hands until it forms a large dough and no longer sticks to your hands. You may need to add more water or more flour to get to that point. Let the dough rest for at least 1 hour and cover with a damp cloth. You can leave it in the refrigerator 24 hours prior to cooking too
- Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Work with one at a time and cover the rest. Lightly dust your working surface with some flour. Flatten the dough into about 1/8 inch thickness. Using the rolling pin as my guide, I use pizza cutter to cut the dough into 3/4-inch wide noodle strands
- Continue to work with the rest of the dough. Dust the noodle strands lightly with flour to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other.
- Prepare a big pot of boiling water with some salt. When the water is boiling, add the noodles and gently stir to prevent sticking. Cook for about 1 minute and and then remove and submerge into cold water to stop the cooking process
WHEN READY TO SERVE:
- I separate the egg whites from the yolks because I like the yolk runny
- Blanch the yu choy in boiling water for 1-2 minutes and then refresh with cold water and set aside
- Ladle about 2 large scoops of soup base along with few slices mushrooms in a saucepan. Bring the soup to a boil. Scoop about 1 Tbsp of the meat paste you prepare earlier into the soup, continue to do so for 3-4 more times. Add the egg whites in into the soup without stirring and let the egg white turn. Add the noodles and turn off the heat
- Gently transfer into serving bowl. Add yu choy, carefully add the yolk (I broke the yolk in the video 🙁 ) garnish with crispy fried shallots, fried anchovies, green onion and serve with chili on the side if you like
Our family loves Mee Hoon Kueh too.
6 comments
I have made this recipe more times than I can count. Even when I mess it up with a little more here and a little less there or forgetting something it still always turns out great. I’m Malaysian living abroad and this hits the spot every single time. I make the noodles and leave them out to rest longer or in the fridge sometimes overnight and they’re still great, I make them into “worm” or other funny shapes for my kids and now it’s one of their favourite meals. Thank you!
Hi Didi, so good to know that you find the recipe is forgiving! Even better that it has become your kids’ favorite meals 🙂 Thank you for taking time to share your feedback. I really appreciate it!
Hi Marv, thank you for your recipe! can you advise me if it’s possible to make gluten-free ban mian dough?
Hi Vynn, I’m sure it’s possible. Ban mian dough is similar to egg noodles dough basically. But I haven’t tried it with gluten-free flour before though.
Thank you for this recipe! I loved eating ban mian when I was in Singapore and miss it since moving away.
I noticed that in your written recipe for the dough, you said to mix everything except the oil and then the oil never got mentioned again. However, in your video, it shows you adding in the oil before making the dough.
Hi Jen, I’m glad you caught the error. I have improved the recipe and forgot to update some of the information in the recipe card. It should be mixed together in the dough like in the video 🙂 I love ban mian a lot too. It was my dinner for almost every dinner LOL!