Misua

Misua (also spelled mee sua or miswa; Chinese: 麵線; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: mī-sòaⁿ), also known as wheat vermicelli, is a very thin variety of salted noodles made from wheat flour.^[1] It originated in Fujian, China.^[1] The noodles differ from mifen (rice vermicelli) and cellophane noodles in that those varieties are made from rice and mung beans, respectively.

Misua

Fried misua with vegetables
Alternative names	Wheat vermicelli
Type	Chinese noodles
Place of origin	China
Region or state	Fujian
Main ingredients	Wheat flour
Media: Misua

Misua
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	麵線
Simplified Chinese	面线
Literal meaning	noodle threads
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin miànxiàn Southern Min Hokkien POJ mī-sòaⁿ
Khmer name
Khmer	មីសួ (mii suə)

Description

Misua is made from wheat flour.^[2] Cooking misua usually takes less than two minutes in boiling water, and sometimes significantly less.^{[citation needed]}

 

Bola-bola with misua (Philippines)

Culture

Misua is cooked during important festivities, and eaten in mainland China as well in Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, and particularly in both Taiwan and the Philippines, which have the highest populations of Fujianese outside of mainland China.^{[citation needed]}

Misua signifies long life in Chinese culture, and as such is a traditional birthday food. Because of this, it is often discouraged to chew or cut misua noodles.^[3] It is usually served with ingredients such as eggs, tofu, bell peppers,^[3] oysters, pig's large intestine,^[2] shiitake mushroom, beef, shallots, or scallions, roasted nuts or fried fish.

In Taiwan, there are two forms of misua. The first is plain, while the second has been steamed at high heat, caramelizing it to a light brown colour. For birthdays, plain misua is usually served plain with pork hocks (猪腳麵線) in stewed broth as a Taiwanese birthday tradition. Brown misua can be cooked for prolonged periods without disintegrating in the cooking broth and is used in oyster vermicelli (蚵仔麵線), a dish popular in Taiwan.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Chinese noodles
• List of noodles
• Oyster vermicelli
• Sōmen

References

1. Albala, K. (2017). Noodle Soup: Recipes, Techniques, Obsession. University of Illinois Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-252-05019-0. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
2. Cosmo, S. (2017). The Ultimate Pasta and Noodle Cookbook. Cider Mill Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-60433-733-4. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
3. "LIST: 'Lucky food' to prepare for Chinese New year, and why". Rappler. January 24, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2022.

•  Food portal