Pasta making is a beautiful (and super tasty!) tradition that is finally coming back. Not only is making pasta easy, but you can customize your recipe to include ingredients such as tea, fresh herbs or leafy greens and colourful powders. These homemade matcha noodles are super tasty and easy to make – with or without a pasta maker.
What are matcha noodles?
Homemade matcha noodles are a classic egg noodles with a twist that you can prepare in both sweet and savoury way. You will need only three ingredients to make them – flour, eggs and matcha tea powder. While it's possible to make noodles with water and eggs only, egg pasta may have a slightly better texture. This, of course, depends on your preferences as well.
You may not have seen matcha noodles in stores, but they are not a novelty. In fact, a type of Japanese soba noodles with buckwheat can be made with matcha tea as well. Soba matcha is different from classic egg noodles and is available from many specialty stores.
The best matcha for making noodles
For making the best matcha noodles at home, always use a good matcha green tea. You don't need to use ceremonial grade matcha, but make sure it's both fresh and flavourful. Any authentic, vibrantly green matcha tea powder will work well with this recipe. When matcha is blended with other ingredients, it will usually give only a delicate, but recognizable flavour.
In this recipe we used Korean matcha powder, an amazing substitute for a regular Japanese matcha. It has a fresh, grassy, deep scent and a vibrant green colour, which makes it perfect for cooking and baking.
What is the best flour for homemade noodles?
When making homemade noodles or other pasta, it's super important to choose the right flour. The best flour to use is an Italian ‘00' pasta flour with about 12 grams of protein. It has a finer texture than an all-purpose flour and a similar protein content. If you can't find the pasta flour, you can try using an all-purpose flour.
Homemade vs bought noodles
The most commonly available type of matcha noodles is matcha soba noodles. A few other types are available too, but they are not as easy to find as soba noodles. Thankfully, making noodles at home is not as complicated as it sounds. It will take up some of your time + drying time, but the best part is that you can customise the recipe and make any type of noodles you want. If you are making matcha noodles for savoury dishes, you can add other fresh or dry ingredients:
- Basil
- Rosemary
- Mint
Next, the cost of making homemade noodles is significantly lower than buying them. You will only need 3 ingredients for making matcha noodles. 1 kg of flour and 10 eggs, plus matcha powder will give you 1.5 kg of homemade matcha pasta. You will also need about 15-30 grams of matcha powder (depending on the type and desired strength). Some affordable and great tasting matcha powders can cost less than 5 GBP for a 30 grams pouch.
Another benefit of making matcha noodles by yourself is that they will taste absolutely delicious. They are going to cook faster than store-bought pasta and will taste softer and with a much nicer texture. To cook it, bring water to a boil, add a bit of oil and salt and boil for 2-3 minutes.
Do you need a pasta maker?
If you plan to make a lot of homemade pasta, it pays off to invest into a pasta maker. Many of them are not expensive at all, and will do the job. However, you can make pasta without the pasta maker. You will need a large clean surface where you can roll out the dough and cut it with a knife.
However, the more important step in making homemade noodles than properly cutting them is to knead the dough long enough. When the dough is kneaded enough, it will become more elastic. A pasta maker may also help with this step as you can pass the dough though the flattening attachment as many times as needed.
Do not add more water to your dough. If it feels too dry, you can wet your hands with water and continue kneading, rather than adding water directly into the dough. Keep in mind, though, matcha will stain your hands and may stain the work surface. Always clean it immediately after you finish making noodles.
To cut the noodles without the pasta maker, you will need to roll it out thinly and cut in thin stripes. To cut it faster, dust it with more flour and fold it, then cut into thin strips.
Homemade Matcha Noodles Recipe
Equipment
- Sifter
- Pasta maker
Ingredients
- 100 grams pasta flour 00 type
- 1 medium egg
- ½-1 teaspoon matcha powder sifted
- Water for wetting hands if needed
Instructions
- Sift the flour into a clean bowl.
- Sift in matcha powder and whisk with a fork or a hand whisk until it's fully incorporated.
- Make a small well in the middle and add one medium egg.
- Mix it well with a spoon or a spatula until the dough starts to form.
- Transfer the dough onto a clean surface dusted with flour and knead for 10-15 minutes. Dough may look dry, but don't add any water until you are absolutely sure it's too dry.
- Once you get a smooth and elastic dough, form a small loaf and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Cut the dough into 4-5 equal parts.
- Take the first piece of dough and flatten it using the thickest dough setting on pasta maker 5-10 times, each time folding and dusting with four if it sticks. After 5-10 times, adjust the thickness setting to thinner and run the dough through the machine again. Repeat this step until you get a desired thickness.
- Set the cutting attachment on a desired thickness. Dust the flattened dough with flour again and pass it through a cutting attachment.
- Create little nests and let it dry for at least one hour at room temperature. Once they are dry, store it in the fridge if you plan to use it within a couple of days. Homemade noodles will have a longer shelf life if they are completely dry. Alternatively, you can freeze them and use later.
