Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Chee Cheong Fun: End - Reference List..

Sources of information about Chee Cheong Fun are:

Asian Online Recipes, 2009. Chee Cheong Fun Recipe [Online]. Available from: http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/dim_sum/chee_cheong_fun.php
[Accessed 10 February 2009].

Kirchner, G., 2001. How Organisms Convert Food to Energy [Online]. Indiana University Southeast. Available from: http://homepages.ius.edu/GKIRCHNE/glycolysis.jpg
[Accessed 11 February 2009].

Lily, 2007. Hearth and Home – Lily’s Wai Sek Hong [Online]. Available from: http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2007/04/chee-cheong-fun.html
[Accessed 10 February 2009].

Lloyd, C., 2004. Metabolic Pathways [Online]. Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland. Available from: http://www.cellml.org/examples/images/metabolic_models/the_electron_transport_chain.gif
[Accessed 11 February 2009].

Ritter, J., and Genzel, Y., 2002. Quantitative Analysis of Energy Metabolism of Animal Cells [Online]. Max-Planck Institute. Available from: http://www.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de/research/projects/1088/1114/1118/TCA3.jpg
[Accessed 11 February 2009].

SG LifeStyle, 2007. Chee Cheong Fun [Online]. Available from: http://lifestylewiki.com/Chee_Cheong_Fun
[Accessed 12 February 2009].

Singapore Food Facts, 1999. Noodle Dishes [Online]. Singapore Ministry of Health. Available from: http://www.nutrition.com.sg/do/hnoodle.asp
[Accessed 10 February 2009].

TV Wiki, 2005. Penang Cuisine [Online]. Available from: http://www.tvwiki.tv/wiki/Penang_cuisine
[Accessed 10 February 2009].

Wong, L.K., 2001. Glossary - Chee Cheong Fun [Online]. Available from: http://www.geocities.com/napavalley/2628/glossary.htm
[Accessed 10 February 2009].

Friday, February 20, 2009

Chee Cheong Fun: Transformed

Traditionally, Chee Cheong Fun is served with "Char Siew"/roasted pork slice and shrimp. But recently, fruits such as bananas, durians and strawberries and ingredients like Unagi have been added (SG LifeStyle 2007) as fillings. To my surprise, I found a restaurant located at Damansara, Petaling Jaya selling flat sheet Chee Cheong Fun with mango filling. It is recommended by the 8tv channel “Ho Chak” program on 15th February 2009. Good to note that Chee Cheong Fun could be customized in different flavors. Also, glad to see that an integration of Chee Cheong Fun with fruits is already happening. This brings especially great news as consumers nowadays consume less fruits. Plain or fruits filling Chee Cheong Fun is also suitable for vegan consumption.

To sum it up, Chee Cheong Fun is popular and suitable for all level of consumers no matter children, teenagers, adults and elders!

Take a break. Have a Kit-Kat.
Have Chee Cheong Fun. Have fun!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Chee Cheong Fun: Physiology benefit or deficit?

Chee Cheong Fun with soy and sambal sauce
Will I get cancer for having too much of Chee Cheong Fun? Or will I gain immunity by having more of it?

No sir/mdm. Please, let's not get too extreme with things here. There’s no good nor harm of Chee Cheong Fun to human body. No studies or any researches have ever proven that it’s good or bad.

Now ask me, ask me: "How then, since it's high in carbo, will I get gastric for having too much of it?"
Good. I believe too much of anything is never a good thing. Tested and verified by me :D consuming it in moderate quantity will not give any gastronomy experience (gastric). This delicious Chee Cheong Fun (the default Cantonese version I meant) can fit in my breakfast, lunch or even dinner.

On a very personal level, it is not a main course of meal, but a tasty ‘snack’ which can help to ‘cure’ my hunger for a short period of time. And it does stimulate my appetite, especially in the morning. Like I said before, I support original recipe, among different types of sauces and filling, having flat sheet of Chee Cheong Fun with dark sweet sauce and some sesame seed is my favorite! Every time I mix them with Chee Cheong Fun, the final dish definitely oozed my taste bud. It perks up my morning. Yum yum-dilly yum! Comparing it to other breakfast such as fried hash brown, Chee Cheong Fun is more nutritious as it contains less fat and lower glycemic index. Besides, it is always served in fresh and must be eaten while it’s hot. Indirectly, it serves as an appetizer to ‘warm up’ my tummy every time before I take a heavier meal.

Chee Cheong Fun: What happen inside my tummy after I......

In the previous post, it is mentioned that a plain flavor Chee Cheong Fun without any filling and sauces provides higher amount of carbohydrates compared to other nutrients. So how does carbohydrate metabolism happens in the human body? That, amigo, is our discussion today.

In carbohydrate metabolism, the essential processes include Glycolysis, Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle (TCA) and Electron Transport Chain (ETC). These three are core processes that assist to generate energy (eg. ATP) in homo-sapient a.k.a human body.

Glycolysis
[Adapted from Kirchner 2001]

Glycolysis, also known as Emden-Meyerhof pathway, catalyzes the oxidation of glucose or glycogen to pyruvate and lactate thus, produced energy. This process occurs in cell named cytosol. It provides intermediates for other metabolic pathway in the human body to generate energy. Two crucial types of product can be formed from this process. The first being acetyl CoA (converted from pyruvate) through the aerobic glycolysis that is the major substrate for TCA cycle. The other type of product is lactate that formed by anaerobic glycolysis. Glycolysis can be regulated in many ways such as availability of substrate, concentration of enzymes (hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase) that is responsible for rate limiting steps, allosteric regulation of enzymes, covalent modification of enzymes and hormonal regulation. At the end of glycolysis, a major 8 ATP will be produced from aerobic glycolysis and 2 ATP from anaerobic glycolysis.

TCA/ Kreb’s Cycle
[Adapted from Ritter and Genzel 2002]

The TCA Cycle or citric acid cycle occurs entirely in the cell mitochondria. It is considered as a traffic cycle, not a closed cycle as this process involve leaving and entering of compounds. Unlike glycolysis, this cycle provides the building blocks for the synthesis of amino acids and heme. Besides, this cycle happens twice for each glucose molecule transferred from glycolysis. There are two pyruvate molecules generated for each glycolysis that occurred. These pyruvates must be transferred into the matrix of mitochondria through specific pyruvate transporter before entering the cycle as Acetyl-CoA. In the end, a total of 12 ATP will be generated from this cycle. On the other hand, the regulation of this process can be done by activate and inhibit the enzyme activities (pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, citrate synthase, isocitrate dehydrogenase and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex) as well as making the availability of ADP to generate more energy.

ETC
[Adapted from Lloyd 2004]

In the ETC process, the NADH and FADH2 formed during the glycolysis and TCA cycle will be used to generate energy. ETC takes place in the inner membrane of the cell mitochondria in which each energy-rich reduced coenzymes (NADH and FADH2) donates a pair of electron to a specialized set of electron carriers. As the electrons passed down the ETC, they lose their free energy and parts of the energy will be captured and stored to form ATP.

That's all for today, folks. Did I just bored you?

Monday, February 16, 2009

Chee Cheong Fun: Nutrition fact

The nutritional value of the ingredients in Chee Cheong Fun varies according to different filling in it (Table 1) and of course, with no sauced topped. Overall, the main source of carbohydrate came from flour, protein from powder, fat from oil, dietary fiber from spring onion and minerals from the flavorings. Based on the calculation on 100g weight basis, Chee Cheong Fun without any filling and sauce contains lower nutritional value compared to that filling with shrimp. Overall, a plain flavor Chee Cheong Fun consists of high level of carbohydrates and sodium compared to other nutrients. Thus, it can be known as an energy-provider to human. This means it can be adequately included in the breakfast menu.

[Adapted from Singapore Food Facts, Ministry of Health 1999]

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Chee Cheong Fun: Ingredients

Chee Cheong Fun with shrimp filling


So, what's inside a Chee Cheong Fun which makes it delicious.

The common ingredients used included:
i. Rice flour
ii. Tapioca flour or Cornstarch
iii. Borax powder
iv. Salt
v. Water (cold and hot boiling)
vi. Cooking oil
vii. Chopped spring onion
viii. Sweetened soy sauce and sesame paste

[Adapted from Lily 2007; AOR 2009]

Up north, Penang folks have their version of Chee Cheong Fun. Instead of the default Cantonese topping of sweetened soy sauce and sesame paste, folks there used shrimp paste sauce. Also, known as "Hoi Sin" Sauce, it has a rather peculiar taste for someone who had their first Chee Cheong Fun in the original Cantonese style. Thus, word of advice: "Try it in a small amount".

Original recipe, I support!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Chee Cheong Fun: Definition

Chee Cheong Fun with sweet sauce
Chee Cheong Fun, a Cantonese dishes by default, also known as rice noodle roll, is a type of noodle made from rice flour which can be shaped into either thin, square (flat sheets) or rolls (Wong 2001). It is a common type of local food found in Cantonese dishes in Malaysia and usually eaten as breakfast. Due to its plain flavor of rice, chee cheong fun is generally served with a variety of sauces like sweet sauce, XO sauce, sambal sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili hot sauce and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds

Friday, February 13, 2009

Enterlude ~The Beginning~

dudewheresmyfood is created to record and create awareness towards local Malaysian delights. Unlike the many photo sessions of outing where one visits many different places for food with their friends. And only to return to blog about "today is a great day, because me, JJ, KK and Ah Kao went all the way up to Ipoh for chicken rice.... bla... bla.. bla.."

No! None of the "bla... bla... bla..." is ever going to happen in this blog. This blog recommends nice foods but with its nutrition in mind as well. Of food and facts. Strictly no nonsense!

Welcome.