Mian Ge Da Tang (Chinese Dough Knots Soup)

An absolutely easy and popular traditional homemade Chinese-style dough knots/spaetzle/pasta or known as mian ge da tang, cooked in a hearty tomato and egg soup. With the subzero weather we are having at this time of the year, I can’t help but think of all things soup to warm up the soul! Then I learned about this ge da tang on Youtube. I was intrigued by how easy the whole dish came together and the dough that was so effortlessly shaped into lumps or knots by just stirring. Like in English, Chinese words can have many meanings. Depending on how you use it, mian means wheat/flour, ge da can mean lumps, pimples, warts, knots. In this context, it is referring to the dough/flour knots. Ge da tang is a very popular home-cooking in Northern Chinese cuisine. The dough knots are cooked in soup with vegetables and some protein like eggs and/or meat. The most common one is the tomato and egg mian ge da soup, which is what I'm sharing here.