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Noodles bring Japan and Nepal together I met Satuko from Japan, who came to work with me under the JOVC programme. We had a lot of time together as trainers and had the chance to share our expertise and indigenous knowledge during that time. She left for Japan leaving me with a lot of sweet memories. I remember how we tried adapting Japanese food to suit the Nepalese. Noodles was one of the areas we selected. Satuko knew how to make noodles at home - normal wheat flour noodles, steamed noodles and instant noodles - but we wanted to make it more nutritious by trying out different kinds of flour such as legumes, maize and barley. This is one recipe we came up with: Rajani Shreshta Assistant Food Researcher Central Food Research Laboratory Babar Mahal, Katmandu Nepal

NUTRITIOUS STRAIGHT NOODLES: SATUKO-RAJANI RECIPE

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour	700g-800g
Other flour	300g-200g
Water	400ml
Salt	40g

PROCESS:

1. Mix wheat flour with other flour (legume, maize, barley etc.).

2. Dissolve salt in the water.

3. Mix the flour mixture with water.

4. Knead it well and leave the dough for 1 hour.

5. Knead the dough well again.

6. Flatten the dough on a table with hands or a rolling pin.

7. Slice the dough and make a thin sheet using a pasta machine.

8. Cut the noodles.

9. Leave hanging for sometimes on a rack and then steam them.

10. Dry them under the sun.

11. Pack and store.

The sweet smell of success

Mr Chandradasa and his wife live in rural southern Sri Lanka and in 1994 both attended food processing training courses which resulted in them starting a small confectionery bussiness manufacturing a range of jujubes and toffees. He has now been able to give up his job as a cooperative manager to be able to devote his time to marketing the goods they produce.

They received support from the Mahaweli Entrepreneur Development Organisation (MEDO) which not only funded their attendance on training courses but also provided assistance in supplying the necessary equipment, and working capital in order to begin production. In order to receive MEDO support the Chandradasa's had to prepare a small business plan to show that their venture would be profitable. This involved a simple market survey in local shops.

The equipment used to produce the confectionery is simple and consists of a gas ring, a stainless steel pan, scales, a sugar thermometer, moulds, a heat sealer and small items such as jugs and spoons.

They make two batches of jujubes a week (as shown in the flow chart oveleaf), each batch taking about five hours to produce from start to finish. Raw material costs arc Rs500/batch and the selling price is Rs700. They also make 750 pieces of Rulang toffee a week, 750 packets of milk toffee, and 300 packets of a local fried dough sweet called Batto.

All ingredients and packaging are locally available, lout they are unhappy with the poor quality of the labels as this affects the marketing of their products.

They are now experimenting with baking bread in order to expand the business. Mr Chandradasa has attended a bakery training course, again courtesy of MEDO and he has built a small wood-fired, 6 loaf oven They currently make two batches a clay and hope to expand if there is sufficient demand.

Like all businesses, they have problems, mainly associated with the system of sale. The shopkeepers only pay the Chandradasa's when the goods are sold (a sale or return basis). Also, the Chandradasa's have no control of handling, storage and display of their goods, which means that sometimes goods are returned spoiled, due to incorrect storage and display. The shopkeepers have the upper hand and the entrepreneurs have no alternative but to agree to the terms. To do their own marketing would mean that they have less time to prepare the confectionery.

On the brighter side, they have now increased turnover to such an extent that not only has Mr Chandradasa left his regular job, hut they have now saved enough money to begin construction of a purpose-built building for confectionery production. It is clear that training has been the key to making much more of their lives.

JUJUBES

Ingredients

Sugar	250g
Gelatine	25g
Liquid glucose	75g
Citric acid	2g
Essence	5 drops
Colouring	5 drops
water	100ml (a cup)
		- to dissolve gelatine
	100ml (½ cup)
		- to boil sugar

fig.2

MILK TOFFEE

Ingredients

Sugar	500g
Coconut	1 or
Coconut milk	100ml (1 cup) or
Milk powder	100g
dissolved in
Water	200ml
Peanut/cashew	25g
Cardamom	5 seeds
Vanilla	as required
Colouring	as required

fig.3

HOW TO MAKE BATTOS

INGREDIENTS

Wheat flour	250g
Sugar	250g
Yeast	2g
Water	120g
Salt	5g

Cooking oil (for frying)

Recipes and flow charts kindly sent by Mr Chopa Edirisinghe, Unit Manager, ICTRL, Yodhagama, Embilipitiya, Sri Lanka.

METHOD

Mix and knead wheat flour, salt, yeast and 5g of sugar with sufficient water to make a firm dough. Let the dough ferment for about 40 minutes. Then mix the dough well to remove air. Make small balls and roll them to get sickle shaped battos.

Deep fry the 'raw' battos until they become golden brown. Dip them in hot sugar solution (boiling at 108°C) and remove as soon as it gets sticky.

HOW TO MAKE SUGAR SOLUTION

This should be prepared as soon as all the battos are fried. To make the sugar solution, dissolve the remaining sugar into the remaining water. Keep it on the flame and let it boil until the temperature of the solution is 108°C. At this point the sugar solution usually becomes thick and sticky. The general practice to identify this stage is by dropping a small amount of it into a bowl of water. If the drop remains as it is without dissolving in water, then that is the time to add battos.

Figure

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