12 March, 2021 1:35HRS
Laping is also known as Laphing, Laffi, Laphi or Lhaphing but just not Laughing okay.. Laping is a form of noodle dish which is spicy in taste and has a kick to it. It is made by using very few different ingredients and its taste is spicy like it includes flavors of chilli oils and some garlic accents which come from the sauces used in making it.
Laping noodles are originally a Tibetan dish and a form of street fast food in the region, It is eaten in many different ways also sometimes with hot chili and red pepper sauce, coriander and green onion sauce, Tibetan garlic sauce, soy sauce, vinegar extract, sesame oils and more. All these special ingredients give this dish a very unique taste, favour and texture.
These noodles are served in few different ways, the common one being in form of rolls which are cut into bite sized pieces and other in form of soup and noodles with soy sauce gravy. These noodles have a slippery or oily texture and are generally more popular around spring and summer as the name Lhaphing translates to Cold Noodle. This dish is derived from a cuisine called Liangfen which is a popular Sichuan style noodle.
This traditional Laping noodle is made by extracting the starch from potatoes, flour or beans (especially mung). The starch and gluten which is extracted from these flour and foods are the ingredients due to which this noodle gets its slippery and cold jelly texture.
Laping noodle is a traditional evening snack which is especially enjoyed during the spring and summer season in the Tibetan region, Laping noodle has 2 colours which depend upon what ingredients are used while cooking it. The yellow coloured Laping noodles are popular and original, they are made by starch extracts and the other White colour Laping noodles are generally made by starch or gluten extract however they are not very common.
It can sometimes take upto 3 days to make the traditional Tibetan Laping Noodle, the base layer is like a pancake and is made from liquid dough and starch solution which is boiled and steamed. This dough is more liquid in nature than solid, consider similar as pancake dough. This dough mixture is then used to make circular layer, just similar as pancake and is later cut into long pieces that are the noodle. Quite like how we cut some varieties of pasta.
Ingredients you will need:
1. All-purpose Flour (500 Grams)
2. Salt to taste
3. Clean Water
4. Turmeric Powder (However if not available Yellow Food Color can be used or just ignore this, and you will get a more white coloured noodle)
5. Baking Powder / Yeast / Vinegar / Soda
6. Vegetable Oil (Olive oil is also fine)
7. Sichuan Pepper or Sichuan Paste or Sauce
8. Cloves of Garlic
9. Hot Red Chilli Powder
10. Soy Sauce
Step 1: PREPARING THE DOUGH FOR NOODLES
1. Take all-purpose flour and make dough out of it, this dough should similar to bread dough in nature, not too wet and not too powdery or sticky. It should form a bit sticky perfectly round ball when done. (If sticky- Add more flour, If Powdery- Add more water)
2. When the dough is prepared cover it and let it rest for around 20 minutes. (Similar as we do with Pizza dough but shorter)
3. When the dough ball is ready, place it inside a large bowl
4. Put cold water inside the large bowl with dough inside it, the volume of water and dough should be roughly the same, not too less and not a lot either.
5. Squeeze the dough while it is dipped inside the water in that same bowl (This is done so all the starch from that dough gets mixed with the water and we get only gluten left in the dough ball)
6. When done with this process, take out the gluten dough ball from starch water
7. And let starch water rest covered for around 3 or so hours. (The longer the better, but not more than 9 hours) This is done to acquire pure starch from inside the water.
Step 2: MAKING THE STUFFING FOR LAPING ROLLS
1. Wash the gluten dough in cold water
2. Add half a spoon of baking powder or yeast to this gluten dough
3. Mix it once again and let rest for 10-12 minutes
4. After that make this gluten dough a bit thinner by hands and let it steam inside a steamer or microwave with a water container for 15 minutes, the purpose is to make bread out of it. However not by baking but by steaming.
5. When it will be done cooking by steam, it will form bread-like food that we will use as stuffing later on.
Hard yeahhhh…. Well, you can also throw this away if don’t want the pain of making steamed bread or are gluten intolerant, well just use boiled soy chunks instead and it gives a similar texture with higher protein content.
❖❖❖
Step 3: MAKING THE HOT CHILLI SAUCE
1. Take 5-6 cloves of garlic and chop them well (Add more if you want, good for immunity)
2. 3 tablespoons of Hot Red Chilli powder (Or less if you don’t want a kick or are not used to eating spicy)
3. Salt to taste (Less the better, well don’t care on taste, care on your health)
4. Half a spoon of this Sichuan Pepper
5. And add a little water as well, mix them all together to form a paste
6. When the paste is ready add around 80mL of warm hot oil to paste and continue mixing it
Once all the above steps are done, the Chili sauce stuffing paste is ready.
❖❖❖
Step 4: MAKING THE WRAPPER FROM THE BATTER
Now take the bowl which we put aside in step 1.
And drain off the water from the bowl slowly so you don’t spill any starch from the mixture.
Also, remember to not spill out all the water and have some of it left with the starch underneath.
1. Add half a tablespoon of turmeric powder or food colouring if you wish to have the yellow colour in prepared noodles, if not you can skip this step.
2. Now add 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil to this starch solution
3. Mix all well in a bowl and the Laping noodle batter is ready
Now on a flat metal utensil, spread this batter just as you are making a pancake, make sure it is spread evenly in a circle and is not the layer is not too thick.
Put this utensil inside a steamer, the purpose is to cook this batter through steam and for same you can use any method you like. However, using a steamer is likely easier and advisable.
It will take around 5 minutes for the batter to get cooked under the heat of steam. Once done take the utensil out of the steamer and let it rest so it can cool down.
Once cold, use a spoon to slowly take out the cooked circular noodle base from this utensil.
You will get this pancake-like layer which is made of starch batter.
❖❖❖
Step 5: FINAL STEPS
1. Put this wrap (noodle base) on a plate or wooden board
2. Evenly spread 1-2 spoons of Hot Chilli sauce paste we made in STEP-3 on this wrap
3. After spreading Chili Paste, put some gluten made bread pieces (Which we prepared in STEP-2) or Boiled and drained soy chunks over this wrap
4. Put half a spoon of Vinegar, 1 Spoon of Soy sauce and season with salt as per your taste.
Now roll this wrap gently into a roll with all stuffing inside.
And cut this roll into smaller pieces.
The dry Laphing noodle is ready to be served!
❖❖❖
Additionally this cuisine is also served with a special Laping Soup
1. Put the pancake like thin wrap base (We prepared in STEP-4)on chopping board
2. Fold the wrap in half to form a semicircle without breaking it
3. And cut it into long slices just like how you cut pasta
4. Now in a bowl add the Gluten bread (Which we prepared in STEP-2) or Boiled and drained Soy Chunks, Hot Chilli sauce paste (Which we made in STEP-3)
5. Also add a tablespoon of Soya sauce, Salt, Vinegar (Less or More as per your taste)
6. Finally now pour 1 Cup (250ml) of cold water into this bowl
7. Now mix all well with a spoon
And the Laping soup is ready to be served immediately!
TAGS:Tibetan Noodles, Noodles, Noodle, Laping, Food, Eat, Dish, Cooking, Cook, Food blog, Food Review, Laping Recipe, Recipe, Spice, Spicy Food, Summer, Food, Food Industry, FORTH News
