Three sauce Rice Noodle Rolls (混酱肠粉)

Chee cheong fun, a streed food style rice noodle rolls, from scratch, using nothing but rice and water, then smothered in three sauces, just like on the street of Hong Kong

Triple sauce rice rolls (混酱肠粉) is a classic Cantonese street snack that's made with a type of rice noodle that's called Jyu Cheung Fun/Chee cheong fun (猪肠粉) or 'pork intestine noodle'. They're called that way not because they contain any pork or intestine, but mostly because they kinda look like one.

But before we get started… let's lay some groundwork. I am a rice noodle fundamentalist. Rice noodles should JUST BE ABOUT RICE. You should be able to actually taste the subtle rice in rice noodles itself and you should be able to just appreciate the different characteristic textures for different kinds of rice noodles.

But nowadays, unless you're eating at a very tasty stall or restaurant that got its own specific supplier for rice noodles, the rice noodle quality in Guangdong tends to be pretty disappointing. We cooked some of those rolls from our local market, it just turned translucent and gets transparent as it’s heated up. Real rice noodles shouldn’t be like that.

In the past decade, it seems like this kind of degrading Jyu Cheung Fun has taken over… which is made with way too much added starches, it's way too slippery, it doesn't sustain longer cooking time, and it honestly tastes like plastic.

So today, let's revive the tradition, and make some round rice noodle rolls from scratch using just rice.

Three sauce Rice Noodle Rolls

• Sushi rice or Chinese style short grain rice (珍珠米), 100g.

• Jasmine rice (粘米/丝苗米/泰国香米), 100g.

• Water, 300g.*

• Peanut oil, 2g. Or about ~½ tsp.

*Note: This is the total water quantity that the rice will take. Remember that when soaking, your rice will absorb about ~50g of water. So the actual added amount of water after soaking will be something like 250g. But do weigh your rice. Depending on how old your rice is and how long you let it soak, it might absorb a little more or a little less water.

Process:

Rinse rice 3-4 times until water is about half as opaque. Add water to cover rice by ~1 inch. Soak for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Then strain the rice and weigh it, the soaked rice should be ~250g. Add water to reach 500g total weight (rice + water = 500g).

In a blender, blend rice and water on high for ~4 minutes until smooth, scraping sides as needed. Pour the batter into a bowl, then mix in 2g (~1/2 tsp) peanut oil.

Preheat a non-stick baking tray in a wok with rapidly bubbling water for ~1 minute. Ladle just enough batter to cover bottom of the tray. Cover and steam for 2.5 minutes.

Gently scrape and remove the rice sheet, roll up the noodle sheet with the help of a bench scraper. Then fransfer to plate and lightly oil the noodle roll.

Repeat the “preheat-steam-roll-oil” process until all batter is used.

The noodle rolls store in fridge (tightly covered) for up to two days. To reheat, slice into 1-inch pieces, steam for 3 minutes or pan fry till soft and lightly golden brown.

Serve with sauces of choice.

The Sauces

• To make the peanut sauce:

  Peanut oil, 2 tbsp.

  Natural peanut butter, 2 tbsp.

• To make the seasoned soy sauce:

  Soy sauce (生抽), 2 tbsp.

  Water, 2 tbsp.

  Sugar, 2 tsp.

• For the 'sweet sauce', options:

  Cantonese sweet sauce (甜酱) from LKK, if available.

  Hoisin sauce.

  Thai sweet chili sauce.

  Mix of half hoisin and half Thai sweet chili sauce to substitute the sweet sauce.

Note: Feel free to go liberal with the sauce choices here. Vendors definitely do!

Process:

For the peanut sauce: over low flame, mix 2 tbsp peanut oil and 2 tbsp peanut butter until smooth, fry for 5-7 minutes, until color deepens.

For the seasoned soy sauce: combine 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp water, and 2 tsp sugar in a small saucepan, boil over medium flame for ~1 minute, until sugar dissolves.

For the “sweet sauce”, use any of the options above.