How to make Fresh Flat Rice Noodles from scratch 手工河粉

Making homemade fresh rice noodles or Hor Fun 河粉 sounds like a daunting and unnecessary undertaking. After all, it’s so easy to pick up a pack of fresh rice noodles at any Asian grocery market for cheap.

But when you can’t find it, and you are craving the soft, slippery and slightly chewy texture that only fresh flat rice noodles can offer....the only thing to do it to get busy in the kitchen and steam it from scratch!

The flours

Not surprisingly, the main ingredient for making fresh rice noodles is rice flour…not glutinous rice flour. The other main ingredient can be interchangeable. Many recipes call for tapioca starch or flour, but I find that the final product can be a bit too chewy. For me, a good rice noodle should be soft and more yielding. So I use potato starch instead. Both options are good, it just depends on your personal preference.

The water

If you’re making making rice noodles for soups or stir fries, use cold water. If however, you are making these to eat on its own in a cold noodle dish or salad, then use hot water.

The steaming station

To steam the noodle sheets, you will need a steamer big enough to hold a shallow dish that can sit flat while cooking. I used a non-stick metal pan because it’s less heavy and conducts heat better than a glass or ceramic dish during the short cooking time.

Having a couple of similar pans or dishes can speed up the cooking process. And just like making pancakes, the first ones might not be very good, but once you get into a rhythm, they’ll cook up consistently well and fast.

Watch my tutorial video to see how the whole steaming process unfold.

And there you have it! Handmade fresh flat rice noodles that are naturally gluten-free! Use them in soups or stir fries like Beef Chow Fun or 干炒牛河...just use them on the same day it's made because they do get really brittle once its been in the fridge.