Rice Noodle Roll - Preparation

Preparation

The rice noodle sheets are made from a viscous mixture of 1 cup of rice flour and 1/3 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 being too chewy. It should never have the al dente texture as with Italian pasta.

This liquid mixture is poured into a specially made flat pan with holes (similar to a flat colander). Commercial restaurants use instead special over-sized 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 about ⅛ thickness), never thick, or it will have a gummy texture.

Once the liquid mixture is ladled and set, the chef can add a filling such as shrimp or beef before the noodle is fully cooked. As the noodle is cooking, it will start to set around the filling and take hold without falling out when transferring from steamer to dish. After steaming for several minutes, the entire freshly steamed noodle is melded onto the cloth thereby the necessity to be scraped off with a scraper and onto a usually a metal table surface with a thin coat of oil to prevent sticking. The resulting freshly made noodle is lightly folded about three times. The resulting size is usually anywhere from 5-7 inches long by 3 inches wide. Traditionally, the noodles are finished with the addition of a warm, sweetened soy sauce just before serving.

Two common Cantonese words are typically used to describe a well-made rice noodle roll: "heung" (香) – meaning: good aroma and "whaat" (滑) – meaning: smooth or slippery. The actual noodle by itself doesn't have much taste, it is just as bland as plain white steamed rice. The fillings and the soy sauce that accompanies it provides the bulk of the flavor. Traditional fillings are marinated fresh or dried shrimp, beef(heavily mixed with rice flour), or pork and chopped green onions.

Home made version: Avoid using round pans, the rolled rice noodles won't look uniform nor presentable. The sheets are done when they start to "bubble" after about 3–4 minutes covered tightly and under heavy steam. During steaming, any addition of meats or fillings should be added about 30 seconds after the mixture is poured in a greased "non stick" pan to let the noodle to set a bit, otherwise the fillings will settle to the bottom of the pan and separate and will tear the noodle when folding. Chu cheong fun – Cantonese\Hong Kong style is usually lightly folded (about 3 inches wide and about 5-7 inches long) when there is a filling inside, resulting in a much more pleasing look rather than a rolled up as a fruit roll up.

As mentioned earlier, presentation is very important when serving dim sum. The rice noodle, when fully cooked, should be slightly transparent to slightly reveal the filling. If the edges after folding are not lined up then the edges are to be cut to get that even look, similar to getting the outer crust cut off a sandwich. The rice noodle roll is generally served in "threes" and usually scored to reveal the filling inside. Most other countries will roll them plain with no filling inside and instead serve them with toppings and a heavy/thick sauce on top. The rice noodle roll is always served hot and fresh and accompanied with a splash of plain or flavored (fried shallot) oil to give it a nice sheen and aroma with a generous amount of warm sweet soy sauce added right before serving. Most establishments will have a slightly different flavor of sweet soy sauce such as an addition of hoisin sauce.