With increasing urbanization, the demand for convenience foods such as rice preparations is rising in Africa. Tasty and innovative uses of rice, such as for rice noodles, can promote rural enterprises and raise income, especially for women processors. Ms. Lynda Hagan, research assistant at the Food Research Institute (FRI) in Ghana, has developed a recipe for noodles using rice and wheat flour as part of an effort to develop and promote higher value rice‐based products. The rice-flour noodle is a variation of the wheat-flour noodle generally imported from Asia into Africa. Joyce Agbezudor, a technical assistant at FRI, demonstrates how to prepare home-made rice noodles.
Ingredients
• 250 grams rice flour
• 250 grams wheat flour
• 165 grams egg whites
• 25 grams xanthan gum
• 10 grams salt
• 200 milliliters water (add a pinch of food coloring)
• 25 mL or 5 tsp cooking oil
Directions
Preparing the noodles (one or two days before cooking the noodles)
• Mix rice and wheat flours, xanthan gum, and salt in a bowl.
• Add egg whites and cooking oil, and mix well.
• Gradually pour 200 mL of water into the flour mixture and mix it with a fork or your fingertips to form a soft dough. Place the dough on a lightly-floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Set it aside for 20 minutes.
• Knead dough once more and pass the dough through the noodle extruder. If a noodle extruder is not available,loosely roll the dough on a rolling pin and cut the dough into strips of desired width.
• Sprinkle flour on a tray and carefully unfold the strands in the tray.
• Dry the noodles in the sun for one day.
• Store dried noodles in an airtight container at room temperature.
Cooking the noodles
• Boil about half a liter of water in a pot. Add a little salt and oil.
• Add 100 grams of noodles, cover the pot, and let the noodles simmer for 5 minutes or until they are soft. Test the noodles frequently because they become mushy if overcooked.
• Drain the noodles using a colander.
• Rinse the noodles under cold water to stop the cooking. Drain once more.
• Serve warm rice noodles with any sauce of your choice.
