Rice Vermicelli Noodles

Great Store Cupboard Ingredient

I've never really missed pasta but once I started making chicken soup again I wanted vermicelli in it. These are the perfect gluten free substitute for egg vermicelli, the texture is lovely and they really drink up the flavours that you soak them in.

If you're using these for soup you really need to soak them well before you add them or else they will drink up your soup and there will be no liquid left in the bowl - I write from experiencing this. Best thing to do is to make extra soup purely for hydrating these in.

I find that using three portions of the rice vermicelli noodles gives a good amount for two people for a main soup meal. Pop them into a saucepan cover with the extra soup and let simmer uncovered for around 5 minutes, when you add them to your soup it will thicken up a little and the rice noodles will be full of flavour.

If you don't want your soup to thicken just simmer them in plain water and strain, then pour hot water from a kettle to rinse the starch from them. They should still soak up some of the soup flavour but not be so thirsty that they guzzle all the liquid up.

These would also be great for making a gluten free Chow Mein (something I'm yet to make) and you can of course get thicker rice noodles to use in Thai Green Curry (which I've never documented because I don't have any photos). I'm sure there are lots more uses, gluten free rice noodles of any description are a great thing to have in your cupboard.

Now off to the kitchen to make a Winter warmer dinner of hearty Chilli, such goodness in a bowl.