Qoya

Qoya are buckwheat noodles that are surprisingly actually not soba. They are produced via a nixtamalization process where buckwheat groats are boiled with calcium hydroxide, ground into a dough, and made into noodles. This significantly improves the tensile strength of the noodles over unprocessed buckwheat.

Qoya dishes essentially fall into two types: stirfries and plated noodle dishes with some kind of sauce, meat, toppings, etc. They are not used in soups.

Qoya noodles are eaten by hand with a specific finger technique.