Mixed Mushroom Cheung Fun (雜菌腸粉)

This mixed mushroom cheung fun recipe is a vegan version of one of my favorite dim sum dishes. Stir fried mushrooms are seasoned with teriyaki sauce and wrapped inside a soft and silky rice noodle sheet. The cheung fun is served with a sweetened soy sauce.

Cheung fun (腸粉, rice noodle rolls) is something that my family always orders at dim sum. Typically, we get cheung fun with shrimp or minced beef wrapped inside a thin and soft rice noodle sheet. Although I enjoy those dim sum classics, I’ve been craving a good vegetarian or vegan version of cheung fun. That’s why I developed this mushroom cheung fun recipe.

For the filling, I used a variety of mushrooms (king trumpet, oyster, and shimeji) that I lightly stir fried and seasoned with my teriyaki sauce. I also added scallions, cilantro, garlic, and ginger for more flavor. Typically, cheung fun is served in a pool of sweet soy sauce made with water, sugar, and soy sauce. I also love serving cheung fun with a drizzle of chili oil or chili oil crisp (such as the ones made by Lao Gan Ma, Fly By Jing, or Lahtt Sauce). Feel free to serve this with any sauce you prefer.

HOW TO MAKE MUSHROOM CHEUNG FUN

STIR FRY THE MUSHROOMS

Before making the batter for the rice noodle sheets, stir fry the mushrooms and toss them with teriyaki sauce. This gives the mushrooms flavor, and it cooks down the mushrooms so that they don’t shrink too much when you are steaming the rice noodles. 

You don’t want to skip the teriyaki sauce because the cheung fun will be too bland otherwise. After you stir fry the mushrooms, transfer them to a plate to cool for about 10 minutes.

MAKE THE BATTER

The batter for the rice noodle sheets is very similar to the one I used for my cheung fun recipe. You will need three types of flour for the batter: rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch/flour. 

To make the batter, mix all the flours with 2 cups of room temperature water and then 2 cups of hot water. When adding hot water, pour a steady stream of it into the batter with one hand while stirring the batter with the other hand. You don’t want to add all the hot water at once as it may cause the flour to clump up. 

If you don’t want to buy all the different flours for the recipe, you can often find cheung fun flour mixes at Asian supermarkets, like the one photographed above. Look for bags labeled “腸粉”, “肠粉”, or “bánh cuốn”. 

One important thing to note: I have found the flour to water ratios in the package directions to be a little off. In the cheung fun mix photographed above, the recipe calls for one part flour to two parts water. Mama Lin and I found the rice noodles were too stiff when following that recipe. Instead, we prefer a ratio of one part flour to three parts water. The flour-to-water ratio can vary across different brands.

CHEUNG FUN STEAMER

For filled cheung fun, like this mushroom version, I prefer cooking them inside a special cheung fun steamer. I have a 1-tier version of the steamer for easier storage (shown above). The setup is a lot easier, and it allows you to make larger cheung fun. 

The steamer is a stainless steel box with one or two slots for sliding in the steamer tray. My single tiered steamer came with two trays. 

You can rest the steamer box right above the grate on your stove. Fill the box with about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water. Once this water boils, there will be enough steam inside the box to cook the rice noodle batter on the steamer drawer.

You can find the steamers on Amazon, but it is pricey. My mom bought mine in San Francisco’s Chinatown for about $35 to $40. 

PREPARE THE CHEUNG FUN

Before you prepare the first cheung fun, fill the steamer box with 5 to 6 cups of water, enough for the water to touch the bottom of the steel rods that support the steamer tray. Make sure you always have a lot of boiling water inside the steamer box, refilling the box with water if necessary. I burned the bottom of my box once because there was barely any water inside.

Brush a thin layer of oil on a steamer tray. This keeps the rice noodle sheets from sticking to the bottom. Note that you need to brush oil before every batch. Then, pour about 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of batter over the tray.

With the first few cheung fun, you’ll notice that the batter is very slippery on the greased surface and it might be difficult to fill the bottom of the tray with batter. That is normal. It gets easier after several batches.

To add the filling, lay some seasoned mushrooms about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom edge. Then, scatter the scallions and cilantro over the rest of the batter before inserting the tray into the steaming box.

STEAM THE CHEUNG FUN

The cheung fun needs only 2 minutes of steaming, as the mushrooms are already cooked. When you slide out the steaming tray, you’ll see a lot of air pockets on the rice noodle sheet that deflate quickly. That’s an indication that the noodles are done.

ROLL THE CHEUNG FUN

Let the rice noodle sheet cool for a few minutes before you start rolling. The steamer sets usually comes with a firm plastic bench scraper for rolling. Because of the large surface area of the trays, I usually use two scrapers. Carefully separate the rice noodle sheet from the bottom edge to start rolling.

As you roll up the cheung fun, you may notice that the noodle sheet tears easily under the mushrooms. Don’t worry because when you roll the cheung fun all the way to the end, all the rips will be covered up.

I typically roll the noodle sheets from the bottom up, which is why the mushrooms are placed 1/3 of the way above the bottom edge. Mama Lin, however, does the exact opposite. She prefers rolling the cheung fun from top to bottom, so she lays the filling 1/3 of the way down from the top edge. Either method works–it’s just a matter of working out what is more natural for you.

ALTERNATIVE CHEUNG FUN STEAMING METHOD

You do not need a cheung fun steamer to make this recipe. I made the mushroom cheung fun successfully with a 8×8-inch square baking pan. However, the steaming setup requires a wok and a steaming rack with 2 to 2.5-inch legs similar to this one.

Essentially, you boil a lot of water inside a large wok and position a steaming rack in the center (see photo above). Then, place the filled 8×8 pan over the steaming rack and cover the wok with a lid. The cheung fun will cook in about 2 minutes with this method.

I prefer using a wide wok like this 14-inch stainless steel one because it is easier for you to insert and remove the 8×8 pan without burning your hand. Also, I have a bad habit of forgetting to drain the hot water right after I’m done using the wok for steaming. One time, rust started forming on the bottom of my carbon steel wok because I forgot to empty the water. As a result, I had to scrub the rust and reseason the wok. 

Because the 8×8 pan has a smaller surface area, you need a little over 1/3 cup of batter to fill the pan. 

CLEANING STEAMER SHELVES

Use extra care when cleaning the steamer trays. Because the trays are made of a thin layer of stainless steel, you can bend the bottom of it if you apply too much pressure as you clean it. 

Mama Lin suggests setting the steamer tray over the counter with the lip hanging over the edge. That way, when you press down on the tray to scrub it, you won’t run the risk of bending it. 

There are always stubborn bits of rice noodle that get stuck in the corners of the steaming tray or 8×8 pan. I recommend using pipe cleaners or similar small brushes to scrub the corners.

Print