Loh See Fun From Scratch

This has been my quest, to make loh see fun from scratch.  Many hours have been spent trying to get the right texture - one that is chewy, slippery and firm to the tooth without using any chemicals.  Getting the texture  to what i wanted it to be was not that difficult as i know that with a ratio of 3 : 1,  - 3 of rice flour and 1 of tapioca starch should be correct.  How much of liquid is the difficult part of the whole process as the dough has to be of the correct consistency to be able to press out of the cendol press or a potato riser with ease.  Looking for  the utensil with the correct size holes has been a long search, until today, am not able to find any..  I have tried using a large perforated ladle and even found a perforated flat plate which i thought would be it.  No, they were  not, the holes were too big and a good practice of how to push the dough through these holes was needed.  What a mess i made??????

The final play was the return of the cendol maker and it did make loh see fun with pointed tails.  What actually happened was, i have learned to recognized the consistency of the dough - water should be added in, a little at a time so the the dough turned into whipped cream/ or buttercream like, then it will be pushed out of the cendal maker with ease.

I have tried with 2 types of rice flour,  one is the Erawan 3 elephant rice flour from Thailand and the other is a rough textured rice flour from Vietnam.  Both of them make pretty good textured loh see fun, only the rice flour from thailand needed to be dry steamed for an hour before using while the rice flour from Vietnam, i used it straight from the packet.

Ingredients:

250 gm Rice flour from Vietnam

or

250 gm Rice flour from Thailand (I dry steam for 1 hr - just put rice flour onto a muslin cloth and put it to steam)

85 - 90 gm tapioca starch
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1 cup water
50 ml water for cooking the dough.
More water to get the dough into a consistency like whipped cream or buttercream.





Method:

Mix 1 cup of water to the 250 gm of rice flour and let it sit to bloom and hydrate - 15 to 30 mins.

Add salt to the 50 ml water and mix until salt has dissolved,

Take 100 gram bloomed rice flour and mix with the salt water.

Microwave on high half min at a time for 2 mins, stirring well after every half  min, the dough should be cooked and hot.

Mix this hot dough with the bloomed dough using the wooden spoon or spatula as the hot dough is very hot and will burn.  Until you feel that the dough is cool enough to handle, knead dough well and add in the tapioca starch and 1 tbsp oil.

Continue to knead into a soft dough.  Using a rubber spatula, mix dough with water, 2 tbsps at a time, to a consistency of whipped cream or buttercream.(you will need about 50 ml water)

Put a large pot of water to the boil.

Put dough into cendol maker and when water comes to the boil.  Position the cendol maker about an inch above the boiling water and press dough out gently, a slight push will do cos the dough is very soft.  Too hard pressing cause the noodles to be long and then it will be 'Lai Fun".  Give the cendol maker a shake with a twisting motion so that the tail will form.

Do not stir the noodles until you see them starting to float to the top.  Cook for a while longer, remove them with a strainer and put them in cold water to stop the cooking.

Loh See Fun is ready

Serve loh see fun with ground pork like in Loh See Fun Seremban Style

Or serve it with soup or curry laksa,  It can also be fried like udon/egg noodle/vermicelli - however you wish.  It can also be a dessert if you serve it with a sweet soup which is a Nyonya Dessert called 'Bee Tai Bak'

Notes:

If you do not have a cendol maker or potato riser, you can make the Silver Needle Noodles - follow the instructions in Homemade Loh See Fun HERE