Rice noodle roll

Chee Cheong Fun

Rice noodle rolls
Alternative names	chee cheong fun
Course	Dim Sum
Place of origin	Hong Kong, Guangdong
Main ingredients	rice noodles
Variations	shrimp, pork, beef, or vegetables filling

A rice noodle roll (also translated as steamed rice roll) is a Cantonese dish from southern China including Hong Kong, commonly served either as a snack, small meal or as a variety of dim sum. It is a thin roll made from a wide strip of shahe fen (rice noodles), filled with shrimp, pork, beef, vegetables, or other ingredients. Seasoned soy sauce -- sometimes with siu mei drippings -- is poured over the dish upon serving. When plain and made without filling, the rice noodle is also known as chee cheong fun where chee cheong means pig intestine, and fun means noodle; this is because the noodle is rolled more tightly and resembles the small intestine of a pig.

The rice noodle sheets are made from a viscous mixture of 1 cup of rice flour and 1/4 cup tapioca or glutinous rice flour and water; this recipe will scale well as long as the ratio of flours and water remain the same. The combination of both types of flour and water should be a consistency of heavy cream. The rice flour serves as the bulk and flavor of rice, the tapioca flour gives the noodle elasticity and springiness; therefore, it should never crumble nor be too chewy. It should never have the al dente texture as with Italian pasta. Boric acid is sometimes used to make it have a very smooth texture or plastic sheen. Boric acid is banned for human consumption as a food ingredient in the United States, European Union, and developing countries as it may cause kidney failure.

This liquid mixture is poured into a specially made flat pan with holes (similar to a flat colander). Commercial restaurants instead use special oversized steamers that are lined with a steam-permeable cloth. The noodle mixture is steamed in the pan from the bottom up to produce the square rice noodle sheets. The thickness of the noodle should be very thin (roughly  ¹⁄₈ thickness), never thick, or it will have a gummy texture.