February 4, 2014
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New Year’s noodle – MISUA.
The greatest part of waking up in the morning of Chinese New Year (CNY) is that the first meal of the day will include my one and only all-time favorite wheat noodle. That long silky smooth boiled thin strings of wheat dough called MISUA (pronounced mee-swah), equivalent to Somen for the Japanese.
Noodle is a must-have for Chinese on a celebration. Any celebration. But misua takes the top pick as THE noodle to have in my family, especially on CNY. Thanks to my Hokkian heritage that goes back all the way to the province of Fujian, in the southern region of China, where my fraternal grandfather originated from. It never mattered that my fraternal grandmother came from the province of Guangzhou, bringing with her a Cantonese influence in cooking (and what a great cook she was), misua still rules over other noodles after all these years. It has always been a staple noodle on my family’s dining table ever since I could remember. One that I gladly accept whole heartedly.
Misua noodle comes in various sizes, ranging from thin to slightly thick. My opinion is the thinner, the better. My mum’s favorite way to enjoy misua is to serve the cooked noodles at room temperature and coated in garlic oil. To go with the noodle are mouthwatering accompaniments that only enhance the flavor and texture of misua, which include garlic chicken, minced soy pork, pork stomach with shitake mushroom, mixed veggies with black fungus, fried black seaweed, fried shallots, fresh chopped green onions, and homemade red chili sauce.
Our love for misua noodles extends to the consumption of it outside the celebration of CNY. Sometimes we would have misua noodles in a hot broth for breakfast, much like you would with ramen noodle soup. But my favorite way to enjoy misua is still the dry version that comes with accompaniments. This way I get to really taste the true flavor of the noodle itself. Something that I will never get tired of until the day I die.
Comments (7)
I love noodles too. There's something about the silky but firm texture that is so satisfying.
We're Cantonese, so the goodies I associate with the new year is the jai stew and that sticky gao cake thingy.
traditions of holiday foods are always such a blessing and create such wonderful memories.
yummy
oh, we do get those sticky brown cake thing. not exactly my fave. but if i would have my pick, i'd prefer to have it sliced and dipped in a batter, then fried. it tastes better when warm and all soft and goowee
yes. most definitely. though it's getting less and less traditional in my house ever since both of my grandmas passed away. bless them, wherever they are.
yup. yummy indeed :p