Misua is a thin Chinese noodle made from wheat, used in Chinese and Filipino cuisine. It can be fried or boiled and is often served with meat, vegetables, and eggs. Misua means long life and is a traditional birthday food in China. It can be substituted with long-lasting noodles or angel hair noodles.
Misua, also miswa, is extremely thin Chinese noodles made from wheat. They’re slightly thinner than the already thin rice vermicelli, but the grain gives them an exceptionally thin noodle-like texture. When dry, they are almost white in color and look somewhat like a bundle of brittle gray hairs or slightly like an immaculate bird’s nest. These noodles are very versatile in Chinese cooking, as they are served with many complementary foods and can be fried for use as a side dish or boiled in soups and salads. Misua are occasionally labeled wheat vermicelli in stores.
Cooking these noodles is a short affair, and avoiding overcooking them can take some vigilance from the chef. Because the noodles are so thin, they cook and soften quickly in hot water, so quickly that they are sometimes stirred into a soup that has already been removed from the heat. Sometimes, these thin noodles are added directly to hot broth in a serving bowl to freshly cook them into the cooling meal. The goal when reheating misua is not to heavily cook them by boiling, but to soften them slightly within a dish.
Common misua dishes include meatballs and noodle soup or fish noodle stew. Sardines are also a popular ingredient in soups with this type of noodle. It also appears as an ingredient in many sauteed or stir-fried meat or vegetable dishes. The stir-fried version is called cha misua. Chayote, known as sayote in the Philippines, and patola, an okra-like gourd, are widely popular vegetables to be found served with misua.
Misua noodles originated in Taiwan, an island off the mainland coast of East Asia. These noodles are mostly used in Chinese and Filipino cuisine. Misua means long life, and pasta is a traditional birthday food in China. While these thin noodles can be served with many ingredients, they are often found served alongside or under a pile of eggs, meat and offal, particularly prepared pork intestines. These noodles can also be used with mushrooms, vegetables and tofu.
Outside of China and the Philippines, these noodles are most often found in an Asian or international grocery store. When the misua cannot be located, a common substitute is Chinese-style long-lasting noodles, although they are thicker noodles that do not contain egg. When Chinese products are unavailable, angel hair noodles are also used as a substitute for this hard-to-find noodle.
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