Asian egg noodles

Asian egg noodles are wheat noodles with egg kneaded into the dough. There is no single Asian standard for them, so everything depends on the country and the recipe. Researchers who study wheat noodles separate white salted, alkaline and egg noodles, yet in Thai bami egg and alkali share one dough.

In Thailand bami (บะหมี่), in the dictionary of the Royal Institute, is a yellow wheat noodle. Fresh bami is made from all-purpose flour with 10–12 % protein, water, an alkaline solution, egg and salt, sometimes with yellow food colouring. The dough, at about 30 % moisture, is rolled to 1.5–2 mm and cut into strips 4–6 mm wide.

In Japan egg does not define the category. Under the trade code, chukamen, the Chinese-style noodle, is wheat flour with kansui. Egg may be mentioned in the name or on the label of fresh noodles only if it makes up at least 5 % raw egg or 1 % whole-egg powder of the flour weight.

Yellow colour does not prove there is egg in the dough. Flavones in wheat flour turn yellow at alkaline pH, so alkaline noodles are yellow without egg, and kansui adds springiness as well.

Why it matters to you. Egg is one of the mandatory allergens on Japanese labels, alongside wheat, so egg noodles contain both egg and gluten. If you avoid eggs, look for them in the ingredients rather than judging by the colour of the noodles.