Tuck into the delicious Macalister Lane chee cheong fun

GEORGE TOWN, Oct 1 — Chee cheong fun is usually eaten at breakfast in Penang and is available at many coffee shops and hawker centres.

The Penang-style chee cheong fun is different from the version found in other states because the sauces used to flavour the plain steamed rice flour rolls are different.

The sauce used in Penang is a concoction of thick pungent shrimp paste, sugar, soy sauce and chilli paste.

The main ingredient of the sauce is shrimp paste which gives it the extra pungent, savoury flavour.

Other ingredients are added to create a thick, sweet and salty concoction and the proportions used depend on the individual hawker.

Lee Fook Loon started a stall selling the Penang-style chee cheong fun at a corner coffee shop along Macalister Lane and Burmah Road back in 1955.

He had learnt the recipe from a friend and tried his hand at making them on his own, using different recipes until he perfected the method.

Every day, he would make his own steamed rice flour rolls and mix his own sauces for a smooth and delicious snack of chee cheong fun.

He perfected the sauce with just the right amount of shrimp paste so that it is not too overpowering. A tiny bit of sugar is also added to the sauce to balance out the strong shrimp paste flavours.

“When the coffee shop closed down to make way for a bank, my father-in-law had to move the stall so he shifted it to Macalister Lane,” said the current stall operator, Chan Chee How.

According to Chan, his father-in-law continued to make his own rice flour rolls and mix his own sauces for many years until he let Chan take over the stall in 1997. “We still mix our own paste for the chee cheong fun and we make our own sauces so that there is no change to the flavours and textures” he said.

Lee still helps out at the stall occasionally, especially on weekends.

The stall usually serves chee cheong fun cut into rolls drizzled with their special sauce. A dash of sesame oil, a pinch of toasted sesame seeds and chilli paste is also added.

If you prefer, you can ask for the rice flour rolls to be unrolled so you get more sauce on the chee cheong fun.

Macalister Lane Chee Cheong Fun
Stall outside Seow Fong Lye Cafe
Macalister Lane, Penang
Open: 7.30am-12.30pm
Closed on Wednesdays

from Malay Mail Online | Eat/Drink http://ift.tt/2keakYI
Source: The Malay Mail