Bean thread vermicelli noodles – also known as cellophane noodles, or glass noodles – are a beautiful, transparent noodle, made from mung bean starch. The see-through noodles might seem delicate, but once they’ve been briefly soaked in boiling water they take on a strong and flexible, more conventional noodle consistency, adding great texture to soups and stir fries.

Bean thread vermicelli noodles are most commonly found in South East Asian recipes. In the Vietnamese cookbook The Red Lantern, they’re used in a cold goi bo beef salad, and in Songs of Sapa, Luke Nguyen uses the bean thread vermicelli glass noodles in fish, pork and chicken soups, as well as ‘beef wok-tossed with glass noodles and curry powder’. 

Ingredients: Mung bean starch (69%), peas starch (18%), water