On a trip to Ipoh during the Recovery MCO in August, sampling one of the more famous Ipoh hawker offerings, liu fun, was on the menu at Choong Kee, or Big Tree, at Pasir Pinji.
Liu fun is pretty much exactly like yong tau foo – with stuffed tofu, red chilli, bitter gourd, long beans, tofu and so on. They come in deep-fried as well as soup versions.
The only difference is that instead of serving it with chee cheong fun or rice like most yong tau foo places, in Ipoh you get to choose your noodles (mee hoon, yellow noodles or kuey teow) instead.
The ingredients (or yong tau foo in this case) are “liu”, add the noodles, “fun”, and you get liu fun.
Choong Kee is located under a big tree, hence the name. While there may be others that claim to be of the same origin, this is apparently the one and only Choong Kee in the whole of Ipoh, or anywhere else for that matter.
There are close to a dozen different ingredients to choose from with the prices clearly stated on the billboard atop the stall.
The standard operating procedure is simple – take your pick, place it in a basket and the operators will re-fry or put them in hot soup prior to serving.
The must-order here is the excellent fried turnip. Imagine a very good, crunchy and sweet version of fried radish, but better.
To kick it up a notch, instead of Choong Kee’s noodles, stop at the famous Pasir Pinji chee cheong fun on the way and tapao a couple of packs of these delicious carbs to go with the liu fun.
The chee cheong fun is super soft with an excellent texture that is just right. It comes with pickled green chilli and a chilli sauce that is spicy and slightly sweetish. It is a must-try if you are into chee cheong fun.
Pairing the yong tau foo/liu fun with chee cheong fun proved to be an excellent combination, and if you are a fan of roast pork, there’s a stall at Choong Kee offering that as well, so get some!
Choong Kee “Big Tree”
1213 Jalan King
Taman Hoover
31650 Ipoh, Perak
Tel: (012) 507 1482
Opening hours: 8am to 5:30pm daily
Pasir Pinji Chee Cheong Fun
1456 Jalan Pasir Pinji 5
Kampung Pasir Pinji Baru
31650 Ipoh, Perak
Opening hours: 10am to 3pm, closed on Sunday and Wednesday
Read the original article here.
Trying to influence your cravings since 2005, Kar Yeong was Guest Judge on Versus 1001 Rasa Baba’s 2018, R.AGE Food Fight Judge 2015 and NTV7 Foodie Blogger 2014. To read more about Kar Yeong’s food journeys, visit his blog at KYspeaks.com.