Suitability of pigeon pea and rice starches and their blends for noodle making

The physicochemical and pasting properties of pigeon pea and rice starches were studied to assess their suitability for noodle making. Amylose content, solubility and freeze thaw stability of pigeon pea starch were significantly higher than those of rice starch (p < 0.05). The pasting properties of peak viscosity, final viscosity, breakdown and set back showed higher values for pigeon pea starch, whereas hot paste viscosity and pasting temperature were higher for rice starch. Rice starch noodles revealed less cooking time (4 min) and less percent solids loss, whereas pigeon pea starch noodles had higher cooking time (12 min), higher percentage of water absorbed during cooking, more hardness and cohesiveness. Rice starch noodles scored higher for their transparency and slipperiness over pigeon pea starch noodles. Blending of pigeon pea starch with rice starch had significant effects on the cooking and sensory quality of noodles. Among starch blends, 70:30 blend of the pigeon pea and rice starches respectively resulted in good quality of noodles especially in terms of their higher transparency, slipperiness, overall acceptability and cohesiveness values. Blending of pigeon pea starch with 30% rice starch could produce noodles with superior quality as compared to native pigeon pea and rice starch noodles.