Vermicellini

These are nothing more than short-cut lengths of capelli d’angelo. Primarily used in soups in Italy, vermicellini have broken out and gone global. In India, they are roasted in oil and then cooked in condensed milk as a sweet; in Armenia and Iran, again roasted in oil, then cooked with rice to make a pilaf; in China, cooked with mung beans; in Mexico, in chicken soup; in Spain, in fideuà, and as an ancient tradition in Jewish cookery as vermishelsh. Strangely, they do not seem so popular in Italy.