Kampar Chee Cheong Fun - Perak MFF #5

Chee Cheong Fun in Kampar is a bit different....

It is THICK and FLAT with good rice flavour.... not starchy, translucent, gummy or elastic.
It is steamed with dried shrimp and chinese chives (not spring onions), although there is the option for plain noodles.
It is served with an option of at least 5 condiments of which includes Red Sweet Sauce, Curry, Chilli Sauce, Pickled Green Chilli and Shrimp Paste... not counting the usual oil and soy sauce

Choices of condiments.. not compulsory to have it all together

There was once, I saw a stall in USJ displaying "Kampar Chee Cheong Fun". Happily I went over and said, one plate with Curry, Sweet Sauce and Har Kou. The lady looked at me... weird face. She showed me, her sauces....Brown sweet sauce and chilli sauce ONLY!

Blehhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Klang valley sauces leh! I asked her, why did she display the name Kampar CCF since there's no Kampar condiments.. she said it's made by a Kampar fella! I don't know whether should I laugh or cry. I canceled my order. Later I saw the CCF is the thin type that I suspect is mass produced

You can just drizzle "cooked" oil and soy sauce over this. I love mine with minimal seasonings.

In Kampar, some do sell the thin type of CCF, I think that is factory made and they just resell it. Hawkers who made it from scratch, yes, we Kamparians love such hawkers, always makes it thick. During my teenage years, there were at least 4 CCF hawkers who made it from scratch. The one at market next to the famous Hum Dan Fun, Ming Kee (the man on the bicycle with a straw hat, and the wife who pushes a trolley around Aston Settlement with an even bigger straw hat), Ah Ngan and Keng Yew (Both of them rotate between ACS secondary school and Princess theater). All these stalls serve their homemade thick CCF with the same condiments. All lovely and tasty!

Nowadays... it's left to just 3 if I'm not mistaken. Don't count Hong Kong CCF.

or have it with EVERYTHING. It's always your choice

Like most Kampar food, we love curry with it. Some stalls serve a plain curry sauce, some add long beans and puffy pork rind ( 猪皮Chu Pei) ,flat tofu puffs and some boil the fishballs, fishcakes in the curry to flavour it. But no matter what, it's a mild curry sauce that is delicious. Fried fishballs, stuffed beancurd skins and all sort of fried fishcakes are options to add on. And one can always just have the noodles without anything else.

This type of CCF is not eaten fresh from the steamer, but best left around for a few hours. The texture firms up to a better and 'cleaner' mouthfeel. Fresh thick CCF will be mushy and sticky. Now if you've eaten Ming Kee's CCF in the morning sold by the husband on the bicycle and then later in the afternoon around 4pm, you eat the ones sold by the wife with the trolley.. you will totally taste the difference. I totally love the wife's of which doesn't taste that soft. But then again, it's a matter of personal taste.

For my attempt.. I tried it with 2 brands of flour. Alagappas and Erawan.
If you can't wait and want to eat it soon, then use Alagappas.
If you can wait, then you can use Erawan.
Of if you have a packet of old rice flour, better still, use that. From what I heard from my noodle making friend, old rice is always preferred for noodle making because the texture is less mushy and sticky.
Although you might be using the same brand of rice flour, if the expiry date is far (like 18months away), the texture might not be the same as the one that is near expiry. It happened to me when I made Pak Tong Gou. Old rice flour did taste better.

And I didn't use a cloth to steam it. It cannot be steamed direct on the pan since we need the chives to be seen... I improvised it with... baking paper!

Kampar Chee Cheong Fun
Tasted and recreated by WendyinKK 
Serves 4

Batter
150gm rice flour
30gm wheat starch*
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
540ml water

Topping
2 Tbsp Chinese Chives, sliced
2 Tbsp Dried shrimp, rinsed and chopped

1. Mix everything and leave it around for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Prepare a steamer/wok and put in water to boil.
3. Fully line a 8 inch square pan with non stick baking paper.
4. Place the tray into the boiling steamer. Stir the batter and put 3/4cup of batter into the tray.  Sprinkle some chopped dried shrimp and chinese chives over.
5. Cover the steamer and steam it for 8-10 minutes.
6. Remove tray from steamer and place on your kitchen counter.
7. Place a big plate over the tray, flip the tray together with the pan (wear kitchen mittens or use towels to protect your hand)
8. Remove the tray and peel away the paper. (Now you can steam the next noodle sheet by fitting this paper back into the tray)
9. Leave it to cool for a minute and generously brush some oil over.
10.Fold the noodle sheet. Leave it for at least 4 hours before serving. (You can steam it the night before for breakfast the next morning)

To serve.
Use a chopping motion and cut the noodles to about 5-8mm wide. Top with your preferred condiments.

*I tried making with cornstarch and wheat starch. Wheat starch has better resilience than cornstarch. I haven't tried tapioca starch, but it might work just as good, or maybe better.

I am submitting this to Malaysian Food Fest Perak Month hosted by WendyinKK of Table for 2 or more