Cheung Fun: Hong Kong Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls (腸粉)

Cheung Fun: Thin Steamed Rice Sheets Rolled Plain and Sliced

In Hong Kong, cheung fun (腸粉) turns up in teahouses and dim sum restaurants, and also at street-food stalls. The Hong Kong Tourism Board describes a sheet of rice flour, tapioca flour and water that is steamed, folded into long rolls, cut, and served with sweet soy sauce. Street-side versions may add sesame seeds and sauces such as peanut and chilli.

This recipe follows Liz Miu's home version for SBS Food, which she says was inspired by the cheung fun at Hop Yik Tai in Sham Shui Po. It is her own home recipe, not the stall's official formula. Sekai Gohan has not kitchen-tested the recipe as a whole. It makes plain, unfilled rolls for two. Each sheet is steamed on a shallow tray, rolled, cut, and served with your choice of three sauces from the same recipe: a strained ginger soy infusion, a sesame peanut sauce, and a sticky sweet sauce made with hoisin and char siu sauce.

SBS lists the recipe at 20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking, and a separate rest of at least 30 minutes for the batter. You can make all three sauces while the batter rests.

A Rice Roll Found Both in Dim Sum and on the Street

The Hong Kong Tourism Board calls cheung fun a sweet-and-savoury dim sum staple. In dim sum restaurants, the rice noodles are often filled with shrimp, barbecue pork or beef, then rolled and drizzled with sweet soy sauce. Its street-food guide calls cheung fun a mainstay of teahouses and dim sum restaurants, and it also names Hop Yik Tai in Sham Shui Po as a place to try it. So one dish appears in two settings, and neither one has a single fixed filling or sauce.

The South China Morning Post describes cheung fun as a long-standing staple of Hong Kong dim sum restaurants and street stalls. It covers both the filled rolls and the plain sauced ones. On origins, the paper says there is no definitive date for cheung fun. One belief traces it to the Tang dynasty. Some cookbooks say the modern form took shape in 1930s Guangdong. These are competing accounts, not settled history, so this article doesn't name an inventor or a single birthplace.

Recipes for the batter also differ. This version blends rice flour with three separate starches. The Woks of Life uses a different mix that includes wheat starch, along with its own pan, oiling and resting method. The two are separate recipes, and none of the Woks of Life's amounts or methods are used here.

Vietnam's bánh cuốn is also a thin rice batter that is steamed and rolled. It comes from another region, though, with its own ingredients, filling and dipping sauce, so treat it as a related dish rather than another version of this one.

Ingredients for 2: The Batter and Three Sauces

Amounts follow the source's own units. The recipe uses Australian measures: 1 tsp = 5 ml, 1 tbsp = 20 ml, 1 cup = 250 ml. Spoon and cup sizes differ from country to country, so measure with these sizes in mind. The soy sauce line gives both ¼ cup and 60 ml, and both are kept below. The recipe doesn't give a number of sheets or rolls.

Choosing the Starches and Sauces

The batter calls for four separate powders. Look for each one by name at an Asian grocery or a baking-supply shop:

• Rice flour: regular rice flour. Glutinous (sweet) rice flour is a different product.
• Corn starch: starch made from corn. It is not the same as potato starch.
• Tapioca starch: starch made from cassava. Don't treat it as the same thing as corn starch or potato starch.
• Mung bean starch: the starch itself, not mung bean flour.

The source recipe doesn't give any substitutes for these four powders, so this article gives no same-amount swaps. If you replace one, you are making a different batter from the one described here.

For the sauces, the author's vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce is used in the ginger soy infusion. Use dark mushroom soy sauce as written rather than swapping in another dark soy sauce without noting the change.

Equipment

• Large bowl and whisk
• Small saucepan
• Fine sieve or strainer
• Two small bowls for the sesame peanut and sticky sweet sauces
• Large pot or wok with a steamer and lid
• A flat, shallow tray or plate that fits inside the steamer
• ¼-cup measure
• Spatula
• Knife and cutting board

Method: Thin Sheets, One Tray at a Time

Serving: Choose a Sauce or Put Them All on the Side

Arrange the sliced rolls on a plate. Drizzle over the sauce of your choice, or serve the sauces on the side so everyone can pick their own. You don't need to use all three on one plate. If you like, finish with sesame seeds and sliced spring onion greens.

When a Sheet Doesn't Behave

Variations: Fillings and Sauces Beyond This Plate

• Filled rolls: The Hong Kong Tourism Board describes dim sum cheung fun filled with shrimp, barbecue pork or beef and drizzled with sweet soy sauce. Those are separate versions; this recipe's amounts and steps are only for plain rolls. For the pork, see char siu.
• Street-style sauces: The Hong Kong Tourism Board notes that street-side cheung fun may come with sesame seeds and sauces such as peanut and chilli. The three sauces here come from one home recipe. They aren't a standard set used by every stall.
• One sauce or three: The recipe lets you drizzle one sauce or serve them on the side. A small plate with only the ginger soy infusion is just as true to the recipe as one with all three.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the Hop Yik Tai recipe?

No. Liz Miu's SBS Food recipe is a home version inspired by the cheung fun at Hop Yik Tai in Sham Shui Po. It isn't the stall's official formula, and it doesn't claim to reproduce the stall's product.

Can I use potato starch instead of corn starch?

The recipe calls for corn starch, which is a different product from potato starch, and it doesn't give any substitutes. To make the batter as written, buy each of the four powders by name.

How many rolls does this make?

The recipe serves 2, but it doesn't give a number of sheets or rolls. Keep steaming about ¼ cup at a time until all the batter is used.

Why stir the batter before every tray?

The recipe says to stir the batter well every time before you pour it onto the tray. Make it part of each round, just before you pour.

Is cheung fun always served with these three sauces?

No. The Hong Kong Tourism Board describes cheung fun served with sweet soy sauce, and mentions sesame, peanut and chilli sauces at street stalls. The ginger soy, sesame peanut and sticky sweet sauces here are the three given in this one recipe.

Is this recipe vegan?

It can't be called vegan as a whole. The author uses a vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce in the ginger soy infusion, but hoisin and char siu sauces vary by product. The sauces also contain peanut, sesame and soy, so check every label.

Sources