In November 2014, I was introduced to this machine called the Philips Noodle Maker. Since then I have been playing around with it quite a bit. I also happen to be making more noodles last night. So it's time for a round up of the experience I have with the Philips Noodle Maker so far.
Many people are asking, should I buy it? The other questions that everyone asks is, is it easy to clean? Let me answer the questions in this post.
Getting the first feel of the Philips Noodle Maker:
Like a kid getting a new toy, this was pretty amusing. This was not even at home yet. It was in an office and I was there to see a demo.
If you think a machine can't knead like my "Ah Ma" can when she makes noodles, these noodles are pushed out with a force of 725 kg, I think granny's not that strong.
What about the noodle texture, I can't pleat hair, I only remember pulling my sisters' hair when they were pleated. At the demo, I asked if anyone can pleat hair and someone could. She gladly pleated the noodles for me while I took a video of it. See how neat she pleads it and see how strong the noodles are!
Purple Monster!
It looks like aliens are made in this machine!
We have been taught never to play with food, but we broke all the rules, trying to see if we can break this machine. It's a fully automated machine that doesn't require you to do anything else after putting in the flour and liquid.
We tried to be clever and tried to shove more dough in. We even took the noodles and try to push it back in for a second round, to see if it wrecks the machine (since it's not my set). It passed the test rather well. No, these noodles though made from edible stuff, it was for us to experiment, we did not cook it.
Using the Philips Noodle Maker for the first time at home:
Many people are asking, should I buy it? The other questions that everyone asks is, is it easy to clean? Let me answer the questions in this post.
Getting the first feel of the Philips Noodle Maker:
Like a kid getting a new toy, this was pretty amusing. This was not even at home yet. It was in an office and I was there to see a demo.
If you think a machine can't knead like my "Ah Ma" can when she makes noodles, these noodles are pushed out with a force of 725 kg, I think granny's not that strong.
What about the noodle texture, I can't pleat hair, I only remember pulling my sisters' hair when they were pleated. At the demo, I asked if anyone can pleat hair and someone could. She gladly pleated the noodles for me while I took a video of it. See how neat she pleads it and see how strong the noodles are!
Purple Monster!
It looks like aliens are made in this machine!
We have been taught never to play with food, but we broke all the rules, trying to see if we can break this machine. It's a fully automated machine that doesn't require you to do anything else after putting in the flour and liquid.
We tried to be clever and tried to shove more dough in. We even took the noodles and try to push it back in for a second round, to see if it wrecks the machine (since it's not my set). It passed the test rather well. No, these noodles though made from edible stuff, it was for us to experiment, we did not cook it.
Using the Philips Noodle Maker for the first time at home:
The instructions are pretty clear. If you don't like reading the manual, go for a demo session at a department store. The demo uncle or aunty will tell you a lot of things!
You can use any liquid of your choice. Just follow the measurement cups and things won't go wrong. We decided to make some carrot noodles. Sis was juicing and I hijacked her carrot juice and made noodles out of it!
Don't expect the colour of the noodles to be the same as the juice. After getting mixed with the flour, it changes quite a bit. You will be quite surprise with the results every time you make it.
We were trying to figure how many portions can a cup of flour make. So we made 1 portion to test it out first. We could get 2 and a half servings of the above only. Since it had the ingredients that we liked, we made more!
We had some kale in the fridge, so we made Kale Noodles next. As the noodles are being churned, we cook more ingredients for the noodles.
In December we had lots of food gathering at our home, a few of them was Noodles Dinner. I wished I took photos of those dinners, but when you have guest coming, you are just too busy to bother taking photos and cooking.
As I mentioned earlier, I thought I should write a post about this machine, so I was mentally prepared to multi task, cook and take photos.
Last night's dinner using the Philips Noodle Maker:
To make basic noodles, all you need it
-1 measurement of plain flour using the measurement cup provided.
-1 measurement of liquid, we used freshly squeezed orange juice and the middle marking is for 1 measurement of flour.
Simple isn't it? You can squeeze some lemon in, but I kept most of the lemon juice to be squeezed over the noodles when it's done.
The Philips Noodle Maker is known as the Philips Pasta Maker in other parts of the world. There's a slight difference, but if you see the China, Taiwan or Japanese sites, you can learn more about the recipes that people use there. Use google translate like me if you can't understand them.
You can mix different flour and make Udon, Soba, Egg Noodles, Pasta. It's all up to your imagination!
I realised last night that I have never filmed myself turning the machine on and show you all how it works. I have only film the noodles coming out. It is very simple. Someone said on the comments section on the Instagram above that it's like turning on a washing machine. Yes, that simple!
From experiments, if you like 'QQ' noodles, select 8 minutes.
Making your own noodles ensure there's no preservatives or additives in it.
If you want to go further, you can choose organic wholemeal to make your noodles.
There are 4 different moulding disc that are provided. This is the angel hair disc. I like angel hair, so this is the most used disc at home.
This was Part 1 of our dinner. You never know how hungry the people at home are. Sometimes they want a lot, and sometimes they say they are full. So I reduced the portion cooked and we all felt hungry and wanted more after!
You can purposely go out and buy the ingredients for your pasta or you can use whatever there is in your fridge or pantry. Yesterday afternoon, sis happened to be making savoury scones and she had leftover basil and semi dried tomatoes, so I used it up.
Ingredients of a basic but tasty accompaniment to your pasta.
- 1/2 pack of bacon
- 1/2 pack of sweet basil
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 5-6 pieces of semi dried tomatoes. (or you can just use loads of cherry tomatoes too)
I usually use all the bacon but we are all going for our annual blood check soon, so we said half a pack of bacon is better than nothing. I usually cut them all in strips, but last night I decided to have some of it whole, so it looks nicer on the plate.
I started by browning the garlic with 3-4 tablespoons of oil, I wanted some garlic oil. After the garlic browns and smells goods, I added in the cut up bacon and semi dried tomatoes. I let it brown until what you see and then add in the whole piece of bacon to cook at the side. I then added in the sweet basil to just let it wither a bit.
You can turn off the heat and boil your noodles. The angel hair cooked in like 1 minute, so you got to be quick. I already had my water boiling much earlier. When it's done, toss it into bacon and semi dried tomato mix.
This is a simple dinner. I happened to have some basil flowering in my pot that is growing by the kitchen window. So I used it to garnish it. It's not that difficult.
Is it worth it to get the Philips Noodle Maker?
- If you are a great noodle eater, yes! You can make all kinds of noodles yourself.
- If you particular about the texture of your noodles, yes! You can control how you want the noodles to come out.
- If you are particular in what you feed your family. Yes. It's definitely healthier than having instant noodles. Some mums I know prepare portions of everything in advance and freeze it. The fresh noodles and ready 'healthy accompaniment' is a good idea for some.
- If you don't always cook at home, then don't get it. You would probably not be using it.
- If you hate gadgets, don't get it. It's simple enough but some people just can't deal with gadgets. I know such people. Just use a rolling pin and knife to make your noodles.
What is the best way to clean the Philips Noodle Maker?
The best way is not to clean the machine immediately. When I first got the machine, I thought that I might as well clean it up right away after the noodles are out. Wrong move. Very wrong move.
Wet dough mixed with water gets so so gooey. So if you clean it straight away, you would have cursed and think who invented this thing? It's so so hard to clean. Then I remembered someone telling me, wait till next day then clean it.
So on the last times after I used it, I left it one or two days before I cleaned it. Everything becomes so much easier. You can use your hand to rub the dough off the different parts of the machine. Yes, rubbing it off. The main mixer is made of metal and it's non stick, you can really rub it off. The other plastic parts are also easy to clean when the dough is dry.
The noodles dries up the next morning and it's like crispy mamee snacks!
This was the morning after. You can just use your hands to gently push it off.
For the bigger discs, they have a cover that you can close it and it pushes everything out. For angel hair, they also give you something to clean up the holes. If you leave it till it's dry, cleaning it is super easy.
The other side of the disc. Wait will it's dry, you can lift this whole dough out!
What next?
- I am wondering if I can make muruku with this machine! It looks possible, but I wonder if it's easy to do it. I might want to air fry it instead of deep frying it.
- I am also wondering if I can use cooked flour to make desserts out of it. Just like how Snow Skin Mooncakes are made with cooked flour, it would be interesting to make desserts using this machine.
- Get the Lasagna disc from the 'sister' pasta machine from other regions. I want to make fresh lasagna instead of using the dried sheets. I read that the lasagna disc can also be used to make wonton skin.
More information?
If you want to find out about the technicalities and specifications, the official Philips website has all the details. I am just describing my experience here.
Note: No monetary compensation was received. I received the Philips Noodle Maker to play around give my thoughts about it.
