Kal-Guksu, which literately mean knife noodles, is a handmade knife-cut wheat flour noodles served with broth and other ingredients. It is usually consumed in the summer. Korean Michelin chef, Park Ji Hyuk who owns a 5-star Korean-fusion restaurant, created the Squid Ink Kal- Guksu. The idea was inspired by the squid ink pasta, where the black pigment released from the squid was added to the Kal-Guksu dough. The squid-ink Kal-Guksu is served in hot seafood broth with seafood.

Instant noodles were invented by Taiwanese-Japanese inventor Momofuku Ando in Japan, in 1958. During the post war era, there were shortage of food and the Ministry of Health encouraged people to eat bread supplied by the United States. Ando then wondered why not eat noodles, which was more familiar to the Japanese. However back then, noodle companies were too small and they could not meet supply needs. So, Ando developed a production method of flash frying noodles after they had been made. This gave the noodles a longer shelf life, even exceeding that of frozen noodles.

The history of the Broccoli Elbow is quite unique. It was invented by my neighbor, a 72 years old grandmother named Martha. Over the weekends, her grandson, Tim would come over to live with her. Martha makes the best homemade pasta because during her younger days, she was an apprentice of a famous Italian noodle maker. Tim loves his granny’s pasta however he would pick out the vegetables in Martha’s pasta. Martha then decided to incorporate broccoli juice into the pasta dough. Tim was intrigue by the green tint pasta and loved it.

Udon is a thick wheat flour noodle commonly found in Japanese cuisine. It was founded as early as in the AD 1241 where Enni, a Rinzai monk introduced flour milling technology from the Song dynasty to Japan. I first tried it when I was on a holiday to Nara Japan when I was 10 years old. I visited a udon maker, Shino Maki San, he showed me his kitchen where he started to make udon 30 years ago. The picture above is the Udon he has made.

The Charcoal Potato Noodles was founded by a colour-blind street stall owner in Taiwan. He sells stir-fry potato noodles with grilled meat on skewers. However, one day he woke up late and did not have time to make the noodles before he opens his stall. So instead, he would make the noodles while he grills the meat. The charcoal from the grilling then stain his noodles black. He could not tell his noodles were stained black until a customer told him he like his new charcoal noodles.

Mini Lasagne sheets was created by my mother. I was a “small” eater and I was always daunted by how huge and filling a lasagne can be. So, my mum created a bite-size lasagne using mini lasagne sheets. This is my childhood memory and so, it is a rather significant type of noodle in my collection.

These Beetroot shells are also invented Martha, similar in concept to the Broccoli Elbow pasta mentioned above. Beetroot has a high nutritional value because it is rich in calcium, iron and vitamin A and C. It also has an excellent source of folic acid, fibre, manganese and potassium. However, because of its strong muddy aroma, it was not well like by many people. Martha then decided to include beetroot juice into her pasta dough and she sells them in bags of 500 grams to the people living in her small town.

Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat. It was a tradition to eat Soba during the Edo period in Japan because it was discovered that Soba contains thiamine (vitamin B1) which can prevent a disease called Beriberi. Back then, the wealthier people were more susceptible to beriberi due to their high consumption of rice wine, which is low in thiamine. Now, soba is easily available for everyone and has been incorporated into a variety of dishes, whether hot for winter or cold for summer!

(Though, I like the cold one better.)