Pan Seared Cheung Fun Noodle Rolls

Classic Chinese

Oct 2

Long time no see! Two weekends ago I spent the whole time working on a bunch of recipes for you guys and each one of them failed miserably. MIS.ER.AB.LY. So since then I’ve taken a little break from the kitchen, more specifically from baking. Every once in a while I need to step away from the blog and just make delicious food that doesn’t need to be photo ready or meticulously styled. This little break came at the perfect time too, because a bunch of Reuben’s college friends have been in town for the last week for a wedding! I felt present and totally ready to talk to strangers, eat a lot of good food, and drink moderately… sort of. For 5 nights straight we stayed out to at least 10 pm (omg) and I had at least one alcoholic drink (omggg). My inner 80 year old felt like she was going to keel over. But I survived! For a few hours on Sunday I wasn’t so sure about that.

A 2 week break is sort of enough for me though. I'm itching to pick up my camera again and practice the intricate dumpling folds I've been obsessing over the last few weeks! Now that it's Fall, I have some cozy and comforting recipes in the pipeline. Think noodles, dumplings, curries, sweet potatoes, and maybe a warm spiced cake thrown in there. Yes, I realize that I make noodles and dumplings all year round...

Let's talk noods. Today I'm sharing with you one of my favorite and easiest noodle recipes! My dad would make this dish for my brother and I growing up as an after school or mid-day snack. At the time it seemed like it only took my dad 10 seconds to whip this dish up. It's a real quick recipe! If you haven't had cheung fun before and are a huge fan of chewy textured food, you're in for the a treat! Cheung fun are steamed rice noodles rolled up into thick and chewy noodle rolls. Sometimes they are filled with shrimp, pork, or veggies. As the plain food eating child of the 90s, I always opted for the plain cheung fun. No fillings. Just noodle. Light on the soy sauce.

You can dress up cheung fun in so many different ways, but I'm sharing a pretty simple preparation that you would see as a street snack in Hong Kong. The noodle rolls are chopped up into bite sized pieces, crisped up in a pan, and then tossed in a sweet and salty brown sauce! Grab a toothpick and you got yourself a classic on the go snack! Why are american street snacks this good?

Does a sweet and salty brown sauce sound mysterious to you? It's actually pretty simple and you can use a variation of this sauce in a whole slew of noodle dishes or stir-frys. My sweet and salty brown sauce is a mix of oyster sauce, hoisin, sriracha, sugar, salt and pepper. That's it! You have to use Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce and hoisin though. Especially the oyster sauce. My Mom has been using Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce throughout my whole life. She literally puts it in everything! She grew up seeing their ads all over Hong Kong, so she may or may not have fan-girled a little when I told her I was going to be working on a few recipes for them!

Next time you stop in your local Asian grocery store make sure to pick up a bottle of Lee Kum Kee's Premium Oyster Sauce and some cheung fun to whip yourself up this plate of deliciousness!

Thank you Lee Kum Kee for sponsoring this post!