Mauritian Style Noodles - Recipe for noodles.

One of the very popular dishes often seen in Mauritius is the local rendition of Chinese noodles, known locally as “Mines.” They are most often seen prepared in a stir-fried manner or boiled and served with other local dishes, the fried ones are my favourite.

They are found at stalls and restaurants all across the island as well as in people’s homes, enjoyed by people of all ages, races, cultures and religions. Mauritian people living outside of Mauritius often greatly miss it and consume several servings when they visit. It’s something that I have been craving lately. I was meant to return to Mauritius in April for a visit but that was not possible due to Covid-19.  

 Here in Australia, it is easy to find Chinese style noodles in Asian grocers, however, I have never been quite happy with the taste or the consistency and sometimes artificial colours and preservatives are used, which I need to avoid. I have been thinking for a while of attempting to make my own so I recently borrowed a pasta machine from a good friend and gave it a try after reading a lot on the internet about making noodles.

I managed to create two versions of the noodles, both very similar in taste and texture so it depends on the ingredients more easily available to you. I will provide the proportions for both of the recipes, however the methods used remain the same. They make quite a lot of noodles, enough for about 8 people so keep that in mind when you try it. It is also important to note that flour varies from place to place as do humidity levels so have extra flour and eggs on hand in case you need them.

The resulting dough is quite stiff so it would be much easier to make in a stand mixer but if you don’t have a stand mixer, it can be made by hand.

Ingredients A:

1 kg bread flour

2 teaspoons salt

12 large eggs plus two egg yolks

Ingredients B:

1 kg 00 flour

2 teaspoons salt

12 eggs

Combine flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl if you don’t have a stand mixer). Attach dough hook and add eggs but not additional egg yolks. Turn mixer on at low speed and mix until eggs are incorporated into the dough. If using bread flour, it is quite likely that the dough will still be quite dry so add additional egg yolks one at a time and mix to form a stiff dough, adding more flour if necessary. 

Divide dough into two pieces and allow to rest for at least an hour. During this time the gluten in the dough will relax and make it easier to work with.

Cut each piece of dough into four pieces and flatten with a rolling pin or with your hand before putting through the widest setting in a pasta maker. Bear in mind that the dough will most likely stick to the pasta maker so make sure that the roller side of the pasta maker gets generously floured every time.

Fold the dough in half and pass it through the machine again, flouring the machine regularly. Repeat process four or five times and this helps to develop the gluten in the flour, resulting in a better noodle. 

Lower the setting on the machine to the next smaller setting and pass the dough through again. Continue to lower setting and pass through until dough is about 3mm thick.

Using the spaghetti cutter on the machine, flour the machine again and pass sheets of dough through the cutter, making noodles.

After each sheet is cut, separate noodles and flour the well before making piles of them on a baking sheet or cutting board and dust with flour to help prevent them from sticking  

Boil pot of salted water and in batches, place noodles in boiling water for 30 seconds, remove and plunge into bowl of ice water. Remove from ice water, drain well and put into a large bowl lined with towels. Pat dry with clean towels or kitchen paper and lightly coat with oil so that they don’t stick.

Refrigerate and use as needed. It stays fresh for up to 5 days.  The photo shows noodles made by me and used by one of my customers here in Brisbane.