Silky, slurpable rice sheets entangled with chewy sea sweet bits of dried shrimp, accented with the sparkle that is fresh fragrant spring onions. Dressed in a light sweet and savoury sauce that just accentuates it all. Did I successfully tempt you yet, dear readers?
This oh so yummilicious treat is the Dried Shrimp Spring Onion Cheung Fun 葱花蝦米腸粉. This is one of the classic Cantonese versions of the steamed cheung fun 腸粉, delicate rice sheets wrapped around various yummy fillings, normally served at dim sum restaurants. This might be my favorite cheung fun, actually. So simple yet so darn marvelous.
The filling ingredients couldn't humbler or simpler in many ways. First is the fresh spring onions, chopped to release their mildly pungent aromas, the perfect counterpart to any meat. Did you know that if you buy vegetables at the wet markets in HK you can ask them to throw in a couple of sprigs of spring onion on the house?
The only other filling ingredient is dried preserved baby shrimps, known in Chinese as 蝦米 or海米. These essentials to the Chinese pantry are packed with the sea sweet intenseness of shrimpy flavor locked in deep by sun drying. These also have a perfect chewy texture. Look for these at shops that sell dried Chinese goods and of course Chinese supermarkets.
All depends on the type and amount of starches to add to the base of rice flour. We tried a slightly different batter mixture from what we used for our Fresh Shrimp Cheung Fun 鮮蝦腸粉 and were very pleased with the increased slurpability and slight chewyness of the resulting rice sheets! Nom, nom!
The batter is just everything mixed together with a bit of salt and oil added. Do note that the starches in the batter will settle to the bottom quite quickly and must be stirred up every time you want to use the batter.
Setting up for the steaming of the cheung fun at home can be a wee bit tricky. You will need a flat shallow metal tray and a pot big enough to steam that tray in. We set up with our wok, which is wide and big, and a steamer rack trivet (see photo above). This metal trivet will hold the steaming tray above the simmering water as it steams.
See how the tray to placed on top of the trivet? Setup done! Let the tray preheat and then use a brush to oil it well.
You'll want to use less batter rather than more so that you can achieve thin see-through silky sheets that are the hallmark of the good cheung fun. As each tray is different you'll have to adjust the amount used to fit your tray. But it should like rather like the above photo, sort of half covering the tray.
Next use a brush to brush the batter to fill the tray. As the water is simmering beneath the tray the batter will start to cook a bit, making adhesion and spreading to the tray possible. You can also tilt the pan slightly to help the batter move about and spread.
The batter has filled the tray!
Time to add the ingredients. Just sprinkle the spring onions and the dried shrimp over. You can roughly chop the dried shrimp if you like. Once sprinkled over close the lid and let it steam until cooked.
I found that the best temperature to steam at was high. When we steamed at medium heat the cheung fun ended up having soggy corners. ☹️
To get your cheung fun out of the tray is the next task. Oil up a bread scraper if you've got one (they are so useful!) or a thin edged spatula. Start at one edge and lift and fold til you reach the other side.
As you can see in the photo above we used as little batter as we could get away with to achieve a very thin rice sheet. But that meant that the folds were not as neat, more bunchy. And it also meant a super silky, slurpable cheung fun!
If you want a more solid, neatly folded cheung fun just increase the amount of batter used and add to the time for steaming.
We've reached the other side! We're gonna slice the cheung fun in half and then lift onto the serving plates.
Cheung fun is traditionally served with a sweetened and watered down soy based sauce. We usually cheat and just pour a bit from our bottle of store bought sweetened soy sauce and cut it with an equal amount of water. Perfectly yum-easy! But if you want to make your own cheung fun sauce we've included a simple recipe below.
Okay then, dear readers. Enjoy yourselves some slurp-ilicious cheung fun love!
Dried Shrimp Spring Onion Cheung Fun
葱花蝦米腸粉
(adapted from here) (makes 8) Prep: 7 mins Cook: 7 mins
Sauce
Ingredients:
Rice rolls
- 10" by 7" shallow metal tray
- 1/4 cup rice flour, 40g
- 2 1/2 tbsp potato starch, 30g
- 1 1/4 tbsp tapioca starch, 10g
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups water, 300 ml
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 cup dried shrimp 蝦米, roughly chopped or whole
- 1/2 cup spring onion, sliced to rounds
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil for brushing tray and scraper
Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp water
Directions:
Make the sauce: Add soy sauce, sugar and water to small pot. Cook over low heat, stirring, until the sugar is melted. Let cool.
Make the cheung fun batter: Add rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and salt to a mixing bowl. Whisk. Add water and mix. Lastly add the oil and mix.
Prepare the steamer: Add trivet to a pot large enough to hold steaming tray. Add tray on top of the trivet and then add water. Heat until boiling, then turn heat down to a simmer. Add 1/2 tsp oil to tray and brush to coat the plate and the sides.
Note: Each cheung fun should have a clean and dry tray that is preheated in steamer before adding oil.
Steam cheung fun: Mix the batter thoroughly. You will need to do this each time as the starch settles to the bottom quite quickly. Add 3-4 tbsp of batter to the oiled tray. (3 tbsp= thinner, 4 tbsp=thicker) Use a brush to brush the batter until it completely covers the tray. Sprinkle 1/2 tbsp dried shrimp and then 1/2 tbsp spring onion evenly over the cheung fun.
Add the lid and let steam over high heat for 5-7 mins for 3 tbsp of batter and 8-10 mins for 4 tbsp of batter. Check if ready by testing with a gentle poke from a chopstick. If the chopstick goes through let cook for another minute.
Fold cheung fun: When done remove tray from heat. Starting from one edge use a well oiled scraper (I used a bread scraper) and gently scrape, lift and fold over until you reach the other side. Slice in half and lift onto serving plate. Spoon some sauce over and around. Ready to slurp! Enjoy!
Dim Sum Delights at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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