Lialia - Bean Vermicelli

By panipopos

Lialia is a vermicelli made from green beans and peas. The legume starches are mixed with cornstarch and water, then extruded through tiny holes into boiling water. The boiling hardens them, then the noodles are quickly cooled and freeze-dried into crisp and delicate bundles which, like dried pasta, have a very long shelf life.

When boiled, lialia is translucent and white, and will take on any colour of the broth it is cooked in. When fried, lialia puffs up like rice crispies. In Samoan cooking, lialia is almost exclusively used to make sapasui (Samoan chop suey).

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