Du'an Fresh-Pressed Rice Noodles 都安生榨粉

Du'an Fresh-Pressed Rice Noodles (都安生榨粉), known for short as Du'an zhafen (都安榨粉), are thin rice noodles pressed from naturally fermented rice and cooked to order, from Du'an Yao Autonomous County (都安瑶族自治县) in Hechi (河池), Guangxi. The old fermentation technique for the noodles is on the county-level list of intangible cultural heritage.

How it is made

Fermenting the rice is the hardest step to judge. Wei Xiongwang (韦雄王), who runs a noodle shop in Du'an, told Guangxi Daily that the fermentation time depends on the weather: a few more days in cold winter, less in the summer heat. He judges the fermented rice slurry by smell; when it is ready it smells of rice with a light, clean sourness. The kneaded, cooked rice paste is packed into a pressing machine with a fine-holed sieve, and thin strands fall straight into a pot of boiling water. As soon as they float they are scooped out into a bowl.

How it is eaten

Each bowl is finished to the customer's order with fresh egg or fresh meat, a slow-simmered bone broth, and spring onion, garlic and chilli. One shop sets out raw local pork and beef and other toppings for diners to pick themselves. The noodles are soft and slightly sour. On Yinghui Street (迎晖街) in the old town centre, steam from the noodle shops carries the sour smell of fermented rice along the lanes, and visitors can sometimes try pressing the noodles themselves.

Where it comes from

Local legend traces the noodles to the Northern Song, when the army of Nong Zhigao (侬智高) passed through Du'an and its rice was soaked by rain and fermented; the cooks ground it to a slurry and pressed noodles from it. Guangxi Daily counts close to a hundred shops in Du'an still using the old method, and Du'an noodle shops have also opened in Nanning (南宁), Baise (百色), the Pearl River Delta, southeast Yunnan and Chongqing.