We know the social media formula: two ingredients + surprise and delight = a viral recipe hit. We just love the promise of a budget-friendly recipe that somehow delivers more than the sum of its parts for an unreasonably delicious result. And here’s the latest contender – two-ingredient “button” noodles that act as the bounciest sauce delivery system we’ve come across yet.
In a continuation of the potato noodle trend (cooked potato mixed with potato starch and using a bottleneck to create a “mushroom” shape), the latest iteration subs out the potato for various root vegies and a thumbprint for more colourful results. We’ve seen variations from beetroot to carrot and the dish itself has been called everything from “button noodles” to Korean-style gnocchi. But does it live up to the viral ooohs and aaahs creators lather it with?
The premise of the recipe is simple. Steam carrot/beetroot/sweet potato/pumpkin until fall-apart soft. Mash smooth and mix with starch (glutinous rice flour/potato starch/tapioca flour) to make a soft and easy-to-handle dough. Roll it into little balls, press with your thumb to create a “button” shape, then boil until they bob to the surface of your bubbling pot, drain and serve drenched in chilli-garlic sauce of your choice. Popular versions have been shared by creators including Dan Dumbrell and Itsvegansis .
“I was a bit of a sceptic going in,” says cookbook author, sweet expert and creator of viral food content Catherine Zhang . “A noodle made from mashed potato and potato starch sounds like it should be gluey, but the first batch came out bouncy and slippery, somewhere between tteokbokki rice cakes and a thick udon. What won me over was the little dimple in the middle. It’s a tiny cup, so every piece carries its own pool of chilli oil.”
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It’s a new riff on an old idea, simplified and made hyper-accessible by content creators for home cooks.
“Starch and a cooked root vegetable kneaded into a chewy dough exists all over Asia,” says Zhang.
“In Taiwan, there are taro balls and sweet potato balls of mashed root plus tapioca starch served in sweet soups – which is where I come at this from, as a dessert person.
“Hokkaido has imo mochi, mashed potato and potato starch pressed into discs and pan fried. Korea has gamja ongsimi — potato dumplings in soup. Northern China has pressed thumb pastas like cat’s ear noodles, and Italy has gnocchi, which is the same logic with wheat flour.
“So the social media version is really a mash-up: a Taiwanese taro ball dough, shaped like a Chinese thumb pasta in a Sichuan-style chilli oil sauce. I just call them button noodles, because that’s what everyone searches for, though at home they get called ‘the chewy potato ones’.”
While Zhang says they hit the viral big time because of their two-ingredient 20-minute ease and their built-for-video so-satisfying visuals, it’s the texture and the sauce that really seal the deal.
“There’s a whole generation obsessed with chew: boba, mochi doughnuts, tteokbokki ... Button noodles are that ‘QQ’ bounce in its purest form,” she says, referring to the term some cultures in East Asia use to describe that satisfyingly squidgy texture.
The sauce is also a long-time winner: a combination of chilli, garlic, soy, vinegar, spring onion and hot oil sizzled over the top.
“The noodle changed, the sauce did not. So people already knew they would like it. The carrot and pumpkin versions kept it going because colour is a free hook.”
The short answer is yes. The bouncy little delicious results shift between slippery or chewy depending on your flour choice, with Zhang recommending the glutinous rice flour version.
“My honest verdict: they are more of a dumpling than a noodle, they are very moreish, and they are at their best in the first 10 minutes out of the pot.”
Yes, they are as easy to make as the social videos claim. They look great, and that little divot made by your thumbprint is a perfect sauce-pooling point.
This easy and eye-catching recipe is best when you make a batch of each of the carrot and beet versions and mix them together for a rainbow result.
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