Cooking rice noodles

soak in cold water

Maybe you're preparing these noodles for pho, or maybe for something like a pad Thai, if you are from a European background there is a tendency to overthink the process.  It's understandable, often rice noodles don't come with instructions, or if they do, they aren't in English.  Bear with us those of you who do it second nature, isn't it more important that we get it right once and for all?

The most common mistake is to cook rice noodles like pasta - just don't.  It's even simpler than that.  All you need is cold water and boiling water and a basin.  If the water cools down and the noodles are still a bit firm, you probably didn't add enough boiling water, so boil some more and pour it over.

pour in boiling water

You will need:

rice noodles

a basin 

cold water

boiling water

Method:

 - take the noodles out of the pack and put in the basin

 - put the basin under the tap and run cold water over the noodles

 - let soak about 1/2 and hour until the noodles are noticeably softer

 - get some water boiling

 - drain off the cold water and pour the boiling water over the noodles

 - let the noodles cook 5 minutes or more until tender and fully cooked - add more hot water if needed

 - drain again and rinse with cold water to keep them from sticking

 - use as needed

cooked and rinsed